There Was a Time When This Would Have Made Me Anxious

OK, I know that I get anxious about odd things that really have no bearing on my life at all but a Josh Beckett start against the Yankees is a sure bet to get my blood pressure ramped up and my stomach churning. So the one bright spot to the fact that the Red Sox are basically out of contention is that I won't have to worry about that tonight. I don't want Josh to get shelled out there but this isn't going to be edge of my seat, hands over my eyes, game watching tonight. Nope, this is going to be kicking back, enjoying a drink, making fun of Nick Swisher game watching. Feel free to join me this evening.

Maybe I'll Sleep Better When Baseball Season is Over

I had a horrible nightmare Saturday night that Josh Beckett got traded to the Mets for nothing in return. The Mets! My sister woke me up (I was staying over her house so I could go to Fenway Saturday and Sunday) and I mumbled to her "Is it true? Did they trade Josh to the Mets?" My sister says that I need to lay off the baseball because clearly I'm thinking about it way too much. She said that even before I told her about the dream I had the other night that Victor Martinez was working for me and threatened to quit if I didn't fire someone else, and I panicked because you know it's hard to replace a good catcher. So I may indeed sleep better when baseball ends in two weeks but then I get to thinking about off-season moves and realize that those kinds of things may keep me up at night.

Fenway this weekend was glorious, made even more so but the ticking down of days until there will be no more. Josh is starting to resemble himself again which is always good because you know the Mets probably would open him with welcome arms if Theo were to offer. Jon Lester was his usual pitching god self yesterday and Victor was Victor, being as close to perfect as one can get without actually being perfect, since no one is you know.

One more game for me this season, the last one on October 3rd. I'm hoping for a big blowout win against the Yankees just to send them to the off-season on a bad note but  I'll take any kind of good baseball the Red Sox are willing to give.

Hockey Season is Upon Us

Tonight is the first game Boston Bruins game fans get to see at the garden since May. Though it is just a rookie game and "doesn't count", it is a game after all and there will be black and gold. Both of the 2 games will be played against the Islander rookies at the TD Garden, tonight and tomorrow at 7. Tickets are at a great price of $5.

After the rookie games is the preseason, which starts next Wednesday, September 22. Though these games technically "don't count" either, they are a foresight into how the team will be doing during the regular season. Or at least thats the way I see it. And thats why I'll be watching.

Now mind you, there are only a few preseason games. Then on October 9 is the official start of the regualr season for the Boston Bruins. Really not that far away, but it feels like forever. Then again it just might be me. Or maybe not.

I may not be alone in saying that knowing Bruins games are in the very near future makes me extremely happy. But we'll see. I will be at the rookie game tomorrow night, Sept. 16, so I'll be keeping you all updated on twitter of whats going on. I hope to see some of you there.

It's Like Victor Always Says - No One Is Perfect

God, why is no one perfect?

Victor has had a lot of opportunities lately to remind us that no one is perfect. He only took two of those opportunities to actually say it out loud (when DiceK pitched last and after that terrible performance from Clay the other night) but he easily could have mentioned it at least a dozen times more. I honestly don't remember off the top of my head the outcomes of all the games in the last couple of series but I know there was plenty of not perfect playing going on.

John Lackey looked sharp on Saturday night (much sharper than I was since the game started so late) but as is his MO he had one bad inning and blew it. And then Daniel Bard came in and made things worse. I didn't like Bard's explanation that he didn't have enough adrenalin going. You keep that up buddy and I'll get your adrenaline going. Josh Beckett yesterday was both good and bad. Walking 4 batters in a row is never a good thing but he ended up with the win. I can just imagine Lackey thinking to himself that he had pitched better the day before and it was everyone else's fault that he didn't win.

As for me, I'm enjoying fall baseball and watching these exhibition games without looking over my shoulder at the Yankees and the Rays.  Soon enough we will be without.

Let's Just Revel in the Fact that There is Still Baseball on to Enjoy

After last night's loss to the Orioles it seemed as though the Red Sox faced the fact that we fans faced this past weekend - the chances of the Red Sox going to playoffs are close to nil. I had faced that particular demon after Sunday's loss and went into last night's game feeling oddly liberated, free to just watch the game and enjoy it for the game itself. Let's face it, with only four more weeks of baseball to go now is the time to savor it.

I often think that the team doesn't take it as hard as fans do when they lose (see the scene Fever Pitch touching on this same thing) but it seems as though many of them are taking the end of this season particularly hard, and who can blame them? The fact that they stayed in contention despite the rash of injuries, the unpredictability of both the starting pitching and the bullpen, and the lack of help from the front office to right any of these wrong during the season is nothing short of amazing. No doubt many on the team were hoping some of that amazing would keep on going.

My prescient son told me during Spring Training that he didn't think this was the year for the Red Sox. He predicted that they wouldn't even make the playoffs (I kid you not, he did). I scoffed at him then but I'm not scoffing now. For the record, my son also predicted that next year they would win the World Series. That is a prediction that I can get behind.