Posts Tagged ‘Kyle Snyder’
It's been brought up more than once to me that I'd be happy if Kyle had just beaten the Red Sox. Hell, I'll be happy when Kyle just gets to get back on the mound...but I still won't want him to beat my team (just pitch well enough against them to not suck and let his bullpen come in and lose to the Sox!!). Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission.
No one knows more than I do that sometimes you just choose a player to like, regardless of how well he plays or what team he plays for. I also am aware that Justin Masterson has the label of “Nicest Guy in Baseball…and Possibly Life”. I get it. (And Justin has been more than nice/good to folks I know so I not only am aware of the label but I’m tempted to believe it.)
I just hope folks will excuse me for not being all giddy that the man pitched his best game since being traded to Cleveland against the team I root for.
I’m not one who gets too bent out of shape when the team loses. But I will fully admit that when Boof Bonser came out of that bullpen, I checked out of the game. I had a list of things that needed to get done that I was going to tackle after the game so the non-existent Red Sox offense and the appearance of Boof made he decision to shut the game off before it was over quite easy. I can’t remember the last time I shut a Sox game off before it was over, but I did this one. Maybe external issues not related to baseball have me a bit more tightly wound than normal but, really, I’m not blaming my feelings solely on that. Losing to any team 11-0 sucks. Especially when we had one of our best pitchers out there to start the game and the opposing team had one of their worst. So while I suppose ultimately, if this triggers success for Justin throughout the season, I will eventually be pleased for Justin, right now is not that time. I can’t take pleasure in his success when it comes at the price of such an ass-beating. Maybe next time, Justin. Definitely next time since it won’t be against the Red Sox.
While I’m cranky, I guess it’s a good time to bring up Jacoby Ellsbury and all of this “he’s soft” bullshit going around. The kid fractured his damn ribs (well, if I’m being specific, Adrian Beltre fractured Ellsbury’s ribs) and it’s the kind of injury that’s extremely freaking painful. There is no one, no doctor, no member of the media, no teammate and no armchair athlete who can tell whether Jacoby is genuinely in too much pain to play or just being “soft”. Jacoby is the only one who knows how he feels and to call him soft is ridiculous. Break your ribs, do what he needs to do on the field and then get back to me.
Jon Lester pitches the final game in the series before we get back to interleague play against the Phillies. My crankiness will be over quickly regardless but it would be nice if the Sox left Cleveland with the series win and not the split.
Welcome back to the rotation, Wake. (Photo taken by me in 2005)
I really enjoy these mornings when watching “Breakfast with the Sox” is something I go out of my way to do. (When the Sox lose, I don’t watch the replays, hell I usually don’t even watch the post-game show!)
As an aside before I start bragging on Clay, Based on feedback I’ve been receiving the past few weeks after each live chat, I’m banging around the idea of a message board connected to the blog as a place where folks can talk baseball (or just random daytime talk before games!) and have game day discussions (with a chat room attached as well). Folks seem a little reticent to use the comments for chatting and some suggestions have come in about having a discussion board to visit. Not sure what the response would be from the masses, though, so I thought I’d throw the idea out there and see what you all think. Shoot me an email or leave a note in the comments section and let me know what you think (emails would be great since then I’d have YOUR email address and could send out invites for the board if folks are so inclined). What say you, folks?
This photo was sent to me in 2007. Someone lifted it from Flickr and a quick search has user "StarrGazr" as the photographer. I put it up because it brings a smile to my face and I need that right now.
In a fit of frustration, I wrote this 1000 word entry about how frustrating watching Jonathan Papelbon blow the Red Sox lead and lose the game in the ninth was for me and for everyone. I pounded the keyboard until my fingers were sore and even considered writing the whole thing in red just to get the point across. But something odd happened as I finished typing. I had a fleeting thought.
What if Papelbon read my blog?
Now, I don’t believe for a minute he does, or would. That really isn’t the point. The point is, why make him feel worse, even if it’s just virtually? He just did something lousy. Really bad. Gut-wrenchingly terrible. Do I think he doesn’t know this? Do I think that by ranting it’ll make any difference? Do I believe that he left Yankee Stadium and went out and got happily drunk just because he’s in New York?
There is no sugar coating how upsetting the loss is. While I went into the game expecting them to struggle and then was greeted with the five run first inning everything else that happened in the game gave me hope that they could pull it out. So watching Papelbon hand the Yankees the win really hurt. Writing about it made me feel better. Got all the bad emotions out of my body and into the entry. But that was energy I didn’t want hanging around this blog. I’m not going to pretend that it’s all puppies and ice cream and everything is great…Sox lost, Yanks won (and the Rays won too). Things absolutely suck right about now. But to rant about one player having one bad inning and putting the blame for all of the woes of the team (lest we forget the pitcher who gave up the first six runs of the game) is ridiculous and flat-out unfair. Yes, had Papelbon done his job the Sox hit the showers with a “W” tonight. But if Daisuke Matsuzaka did his job, Papelbon probably wouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place. You can find blame anywhere you choose to look for it.
No one said being a fan of ANY team would be easy. Just because we choose to be fans doesn’t mean we should find it so easy to make others feel awful. If there is anyone who thinks Paps doesn’t feel awful about this game, I have nothing to say to you. Slamming him in the face with what he did tonight won’t accomplish anything but making you feel better about your small life.
It sucks. It happens. And it’s done.
I’ve unfollowed quite a few people on Twitter tonight. I’ve decided there is no reason to keep people in my timeline who relish in Red Sox losses or who want to get hoards of Red Sox fans on board with all of the team bashing. Life is too short to surround yourself with miserable people. I’m not going to be miserable. I’ll be nursing the wounds of this one for a while but I’ll be back again Tuesday night. I’m a fan. It’s what I do.
A Kyle photo I haven't used in a while (taken by Rob Bradford in Japan and used without permission). Yes, here's my semi-annual entry about why I write about Kyle Snyder!
I’ve had a bad day. Nothing earth shattering just a typical bad day and getting cranky emails from folks only exacerbated my mood. So, be warned my friends, this is a long one. (And this is officially the first entry that doesn’t contain a song lyric in the title since January 2009! )
Sometimes writing comes so naturally for me that I just start typing and don’t stop for hours. Sometimes it’s a task that I find many ways to avoid. I mention this as an explanation to why I haven’t fallen into a rhythm this season with the blogging. I’m working on doing it every day (and I’ve succeeded for the most part) now I just have to focus on a better schedule.
The above is in response to a message I received about a hour ago from someone, essentially, yelling at me for not posting this morning. When I first started blogging in 2005 it didn’t occur to me that I should blog every day and that people would be paying attention. Then I got an email from a White Sox fan reprimanding me for starting a blog but not keeping it updated. That put me on the path to try and post every day. Working at WEEI.com was a good motivation for blogging all the time too (it’s amazing how focused you can become when someone pays you!).
Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission
Last night the Sox won and the Rays and the Yankees lost. I only point out the latter because it means the Sox gained a game on both of those teams (the Rays lost to the Jays so they gained nothing on Toronto but the Sox beat the Orioles so they pushed Baltimore another game down into the cellar).
I mention all of this because, contrary to some of what I’ve been reading today, folks should know that WINNING IS GOOD.
Yes, the bullpen wasn’t as stellar as it has been lately and the ninth inning was excruciatingly painful to watch. Regardless of the ugly, the bottom line is that the team won the damn game (and, again, also that they gained ground on two of the three teams ahead of them in the division). The “They’re never going to dig themselves out of this hole” argument is being put to the test. Sure it’s only one game, one night, but it’s a start. Is it so difficult to just be pleased that, in spite of some setbacks the team won the game?
I don’t care if it was against the Orioles, Big Papi got his first home run last night (a month earlier than he did last year) and Bill Hall made an amazing play from the outfield, throwing out Nick Markakis at second in the ninth. Hell, Jon Lester actually picked off a runner! True, he left the game with the bases loaded and pitched a hissy fit to end all hissy fits in the dugout when he was taken out of the game (bobcats everywhere were pointing and laughing), but he still didn’t pitch as crappy as he has been. That’s progress.
I will take this progress, even in its not so pretty form, over a loss any day. Call me kooky.
Also, I’m rejecting the “Who cares if they win it’s a bad team they’re playing” argument as well. They’re supposed to beat bad teams. They struggled to beat Texas and still lost one of those games. Beating bad teams is what will help them out of their hole, just like beating good teams will. Small steps, people, small steps.
John Lackey will be pitching tonight at 7:10 ET but before that I’ll be in Pawtucket for the first time this year to see the PawSox play the Buffalo Bisons. Is it bad form to wear my Kyle Snyder Mets jersey while cheering for the PawSox? Because I’m pretty sure that’s what will be happening today.
Clay pitched well even if they didn't win! (Photo taken by me last night.)
If regular readers of my blog have learned anything about me it’s that I tend to get attached to certain players, regardless of their performances, and sometimes put my hopes for them above the outcome of individual games. Many was the night when my heart would ache watching Mike Timlin blow a lead or give up a crucial run – not just because of the loss but because of the pain I assumed Timlin was going through. I don’t think I slept the night that the Red Sox dfa’d Kyle Snyder just thinking about how devastating that must have been for him. (I know I get too emotionally involved – it’s just who I am.) The snarky jerks I’ve been in contact with here would make jokes about my “crushes” on these guys (and maybe they are crushes of a sort but not the kind some idiots think. If you invest enough time into a hobby that involves living beings and DON’T take some kind of personal interest in their well-being, then I’m not understanding what the attraction is. I know that some folks can watch the games and not care about the people playing them – I’m not like that. I don’t want to marry any of these guys…I just genuinely want them to do well, to succeed – some more than others) but caring about the people playing the game I love is part of the enjoyment of the game for me. I’m not going to apologize for that.
So leaving the game last night had an odd feel to it. I wanted that win for Clay. I mean, I wanted it for the team too but Clay really gets beaten up in the press and by the fans and last night he pitched his ass off. Last night was the first night in a very long time when I left the park thinking about how I felt like Tito did a player (in this case, Clay) wrong. So I wasn’t mad about the loss (I rarely get “mad” over the team losing a game) but I was a little mad the Clay was left hanging out there. This is one of the reasons I waited so long today before writing. I needed a little break away from the frustrations of last night.
