Posts Tagged ‘MLB Network’
Watching JD play makes my heart happy. I hope he's not too badly hurt. Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission.
…is the major league debut of Felix Doubront ending with his getting his first “W” in the bigs! Felix pitched his five innings to be in line for the win and gave up six hits and five runs (three earned thanks to an error by, of all players, Felix Doubront!) in his debut. He matched his walks and strike outs with two each. Those strike outs? Andre Ethier (he of the .330 average) and Matt Kemp. Not too shabby, Felix.
As impressive was the work Scott Atchison did in relief. (A brief side note: Boof Bonser, we hardly knew ye.) Last night, Atchison threw three perfect innings and struck out a career-high five batters (including, yes, Manny Ramirez watching strike three go by to end the 7th inning). Atchison came up big for the team on national television last week when he was the literal last-minute starter replacing Daisuke Matsuzaka and I’m sure more than a few fans expected to be in the hole 10-0 when his work was done. They weren’t. Against Philly, he pitched the first three innings, struck out two and gave up two runs on two hits (the Sox went on to with the game 10-2). Lately, he’s been a solid, go-to guy out of the bullpen and it pleases me to see the Sox using him like they did last night.
Another home run from Papi, the third of the “hitting the knee” homers from Adrian Beltre and a Green Monster home run that was originally called a double but overturned after watching the replay for JD Drew. These things also made the game a fabulous one to behold. There’s no word yet on JD Drew and his hammie (pulled while making a catch to put out Manny) but all in all not a whole lot to complain about is there?
The Yankees and the Rays both cooperated last night by getting beaten by the Mets and the Marlins, respectively. This means………wait for it…………that the Red Sox are one game out of first place. The Red Sox have the exact amount of wins that both the Rays and Yanks do and have two more losses. Exactly a month ago today the Sox were 8.5 games out of first place (with not only the Yankees and Rays ahead of them but the, currently, 4.5 games out of first place Toronto Blue Jays ahead as well.
Back then, I posted a quote on my Tumblr page from Mitch Williams (currently working on the MLB Network) as told to Dan Patrick for Sports Illustrated:
You cannot win the division in April but at the end of the year the Red Sox are going to be able to testify that you can dang sure lose it in April because I think their season is over.
That a former baseball player could so easily fall into the trap of becoming a knee-jerk reacting talking head is sad. The Red Sox certainly haven’t won the division in June but they ‘dang sure’ didn’t lose it in April did they, Mitch. Say goodbye to your credibility.
Sox go at it again at 4:10pm ET today. Yankees play at 1:10pm and Rays at 7:10pm. Today could be the day the Sox sit atop the division after so many said it was over in May. Make them all eat their words, BoSox.
Dad with Luis Tiant in 2003
My father turns 75 years old today. Eight years ago I gave a speech at his retirement party. I’ve since lost the text to the speech but part of it touched upon his love for the Red Sox, his belief that every year is the year and his frustration with Jimy Williams (this was 2001, you understand). This April we celebrated my parents’ 45th wedding anniversary. When talking about a 50th anniversary party, my father just wants me to schedule it for a night there isn’t a Sox game. The night of his retirement party there was a Red Sox game AND Game 7 of the Stanley Cup involving one Mr. Raymond Bourque. My father was none too pleased we scheduled a party the night of a Pedro start, I promise you!
2001 turned out to be one of the most frustrating Red Sox seasons in recent memory. Jimy Williams got fired during the season, Joe Kerrigan added fuel to the fire and basically destroyed whatever spirit was left on the team. It was a God-awful time to be a Sox fan…yet we still were. I won’t lie, when I gave that speech at my dad’s retirement party I was pretty much convinced the Red Sox weren’t ever going to give him a World Series win in his lifetime. It was okay. I was still a fan. It just make me sad that my father had devoted so much of his heart to the team and every year the team would end up breaking it.
New owners, new GM, new manager and two World Series championships later… 
So happy birthday to my dad! Here’s to his seeing at least two more Red Sox world championships!
Back to 2010:
A bit of non Sox-related fun caused me to miss most of last night’s game. So even though I’ve seen bits on replay, I still haven’t really seen Daisuke pitch yet this year. I’m glad I missed the mock cheers, the booing and the four-run first (in the replay on MLBN I noticed the fans weren’t the only ones mocking Daisuke – Bob Costas and John Smoltz were engaging in it too – bitter much, John? – SO glad I missed that aspect of the game) and, really, as long as the end result is what it was, I’m okay with having missed it.
Four-game sweep of a team many had either sweeping the Sox or at least taking the series. The Sox swept the Jays, got swept by the Orioles and then swept the Angels. (It’s interesting to note that both teams came into this series coming off of three consecutive losses.) Tonight we get Phil Hughes pitching against Josh Beckett. This is the first Yankees series in a while that I am a little anxious about. I’ll tell you what, I didn’t miss having this feeling.
Tonight the Sox are on NESN and MLBN. Tomorrow they’re on Fox and Sunday they’re on ESPN (and NESN? Is it ESPN2 again? This new scheduling stuff is confusing me) so, of course, they make the series that much more tense by nationally televising EVERY game of it.
There’s the possibility that these games will be stress-free, right?
Positive vibes and good thoughts to Jed Lowrie. Here's hoping he gets good news about his health! (Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission)
Day 3 of gray, rainy days. Yay.
At least NESN got their act together long enough for us to be able to watch the Red Sox beat the Twins (putting them up 3-1 in the Mayor’s Cup race). We could watch sunny Florida on our televisions and forget all the rain. It was nice for a few hours!
Luckily, the rain is going away and the rest of this week will be beautiful in Boston. Unfortunately, today we’re not only stuck with the rain but with no way to follow the Red Sox/Orioles game except through MLB.com’s “Scoreboard“. No NESN or MLBN, no MLB.tv, no radio…nothing but text to witness Mike Lowell’s first game of the spring (at first base no less).
If you’re desperate for some live baseball, the MLBN will be showing a Blue Jays/Tigers game at 1pm ET and then at 5pm ET an Indians/Brewers game and THEN at 10pm ET a Royals/White Sox game. So there IS baseball to be had today…it just isn’t Red Sox baseball.
In the meantime, something more amusing than Johnny Damon in a Tigers uniform: Caryn Rose aka Metsgrrl has launched a new blog today called “All Down the Line: Baseball Roadtripping” where she has reviews and photos of all the baseball parks she has visited. She breaks them down by food, fans, seating, and other criteria in a way I haven’t seen anywhere else. Caryn’s a great writer and an intense baseball fan and I think you’ll find her observations informative and entertaining. Why not give her a visit?
2 1/2 weeks to Opening Day (night)!
I dig the Jay Bay but I'll be happy when we don't have to keep hearing about him any more (Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission)
Red Sox baseball on television today!
Unless, of course, you actually live in the Boston area.
If what they’ve done historically still holds true, the MLB Network will be airing today’s 1:05pm Sox/Mets game as long as you aren’t in the Boston area market (not sure about NY – do they get blacked out too?). I always hope against hope that someone, somewhere will forget to flip a switch and we’ll get the game – but I sincerely doubt that’s what will happen. The game is also being aired on MLB.tv (but, seemingly, not on the radio) so there are options out there for folks who want to see there first glimpse of Jason Bay v the Red Sox.
It’ll come as no surprise that CHB chimed in today on the Nomar “signing” and wasn’t impressed. Much to my surprise, Sean McAdam wrote a similar (if not even more scathing) piece yesterday about how the Red Sox “jumped the shark” by signing Nomar so he could retire. It’s nice to see that while Nomar and the Red Sox can acknowledge that people are human and baseball sometimes has to be treated like a business, these guys can still hold a grudge.
If by doing something that holds a lot of meaning for the individual player and the fans is “jumping the shark” I hope the Sox continue to circle that shark tank and jump it multiple times. They made a lot of people happy yesterday and it didn’t cost them a dime (Rob Bradford tweeted yesterday that since Nomar immediately retired the Sox aren’t on the hook for his $30 as outlined in his contract). They didn’t make it any kind of big show (hell they didn’t even present him with a jersey and cap – and I was really hoping for that!), they just made the announcement, let Nomar talk a bit and ended it. Warm feelings all around and bygones being bygones. Whats the big freaking deal with that? It’s good PR (how great did the FO look yesterday?), it made Nomar feel good, most of the fans absolutely loved it and it helped close a relatively ugly period of Sox history (I say relatively because his leaving the team led to the greatest moments in Sox history – that part was damn beautiful). Stop pissing in our cheerios, fellas. It was a nice gesture and you’ll find more fans who loved it than who didn’t.
Although that was always CHB’s problem – no matter how much he wanted the fans to hate whichever player of the week he was pissed at, they just wouldn’t. Hell, I’ll bet you can find more Red Sox fans who like(d) Carl Everett more than they liked Dan Shaughnessy.
I’ll say it forever – Nomar loved US (the fans) and hated THEM (most of the sports media) and I’m perfectly all right with that.
So it’s off to Port St Lucie for the Sox today (a Kyle sighting perhaps?). Every one of these “meaningless” games brings us another day closer to April 4th!
Baseball back home in less than a month!! (Photo taken by me)
TWO Sox games yesterday. TWO! Okay, one of them I had to enjoy via Twitter updates from random media people at the game, but still, we got to see the Red Sox play (and win!) twice yesterday. True it was against college teams but that didn’t take away from the enjoyment of hearing the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd and the season’s first pitcher taking one off his leg. Wasn’t really looking forward to that last one but Junichi Tazawa apparently felt the need to improvise (no worries, he’s fine).
The Sox play the Twins tonight at 7:05 but we don’t get another televised game until this Sunday (and that’s on MLB Network NOT NESN so I’m not even sure those of us in New England will get to see it considering last year they blacked out the Reds/Sox game that Bronson Arroyo was starting).
Yesterday Casey Kelly threw 10 pitches and impressed everyone who saw him throw. (Again, unless you were in Ft Myers you aren’t on that list because he pitched in yesterday’s first game.) Big Papi hit a home run, Jose Iglesias hit a three run double, and no one has anything negative to write about this morning. Of course that will probably change after tonight’s game and the true beginning of Spring Training games for the Sox. I so look forward to more of the “Is Papi Done” “Will JD be able to stay healthy” “Will Tek/Lowell/insert veteran player’s name here be a distraction” stories that are already being written. Nothing says “Red Sox Baseball” like the local sports writers trying to create drama instead of just reporting on the team. It’s more fun watching Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy and listening to them destroy the surnames of college students.
The game isn’t on television tonight but you can catch it on the radio and/or Gameday audio. So no Remy and Orsillo but at least you get Joe Castiglione!
Today the MLB Network is airing three different Spring Training games. At 1pm it’s the Mets, again, this time versus the Cardinals. At 7pm it’s the Yankees, again, against the Phillies (which you know the Phillies will end up winning this one…just to rub it in that they could have) and then at 11pm, the Angels against the White Sox in Tempe, Arizona. I don’t know that I’ve ever watched a Spring Training game from Arizona. I’ll be interested to check that one out.
I went to sleep and woke up to snow coming down (although not sticking around) so getting to watch baseball in sunny, warm climes is very enticing right now.
Sports Illustrated photos of McGwire in his rookie year and his final year. Posted on Twitter today by @si_vault (and used without permission).
“Baseball is really different now — it’s been cleaned up,” McGwire said. “The commissioner and the players’ association implemented testing and they cracked down, and I’m glad they did.”
Translation: “I’m glad they did because this way no one will ever know the kind of pure bliss I had from breaking the Roger Maris’ home run record when everyone thought I was the cat’s ass.”
Until they test for HGH, until blood gets drawn to determine whether there are players using illegal, performance-enhancing drugs or supplements, well then there’s no way you can tell me that baseball has “been cleaned up”. Maybe there are less steroids (or at least less steroids that could be detected) than there were in 1998, but there’s too much other stuff players could be doing to call the game “clean”.
I wanted to greet the news of Mark McGwire admitting to steroid use with a huge yawn but I’ll admit to being a bit annoyed with it. When he had something to lose, or so he thought, in that Congressional hearing, he just kept falling back on not being there to “talk about the past”. When he could have actually tried to help MLB with this issue, he decided to keep his yap shut. Now that he saw he got less than 25% of the Hall of Fame vote this year, now that he has another job in MLB, he wants to make nice with the world so people don’t throw things at him when he visits opposing teams and the writers might actually consider voting for him, he admits to what we all knew he did. What’s the thought process there? “Well they forgive Alex Rodriguez and they don’t even like him! It’s Mark McGwire’s time to be forgiven – they want to love me again!”
I haven’t loved you for a long time, Mark. And your wildly belated admission to something everyone already knew about you doesn’t endear you to me any more.
According to an MLB Network tweet, Bob Costas will be interviewing McGwire tonight at 7 ET. I’m torn between wanting to watch it in hopes that maybe I’ll actually find some emotion for him that isn’t indifference or annoyance and just ignoring it because running to MLBN the day you make the announcement feels too planned to me. How convenient for him that he can just jump on tv and start the “Forgive Me” tour.
I don’t want him to ask my forgiveness because I don’t think it’s up to me to offer forgiveness. I can not like him and not get past what he’s admitted to doing without anyone else being bothered. I’m sure he isn’t worried about some Red Sox fan in Boston thinking he’s an arrogant jerk. Then again, I also don’t think breaking the rules, benefiting greatly from doing so, lying about it for years and then crawling back just so you can continue to benefit from breaking the rules (because 1998 was the bread and butter of his career) is any reason for anyone to welcome him back with open arms.
How welcoming would baseball fans, the media and ESPECIALLY MLB be if Mr. Barry Bonds had made this announcement today?
Had to make a last minute edit and add Curt Schilling’s comments about this:
Other than admitting it five years ago, he did it perfectly.”
See, to me, the whole not admitting it five years ago thing is kind of a big deal. He had a chance to come clean and help deal with this in MLB and hid like a frightened child. He gets no kudos from me for speaking up now.
