Some Rainy Day Reflections

On this, an unexpected off night for the Red Sox, I was inspired to write a blog post because I realized that we only have 6 weeks of regular baseball left. It's hard to believe as April 4th seems like it was just a few weeks ago but here we are in the home stretch with a great degree of uncertainty about whether the season will end on October 3rd or if the Sox will still be in it.

Putting that thought aside for a moment, I noticed that my last post (aptly titled "The Clouds are Closing in) was written almost 20 days ago. How that could be, I don't know, since plenty has happened in Red Sox world in those 20 days. Had I been posting I'm sure I would have mentioned Josh Beckett's inconsistent starts, Jon Lester's inability to adjust to the new baby in his house, Clay's remarkable ability to adjust to his new baby, the addition of Saltalamacchia to the mix and his subsequent trip to the DL, Youk's season ending surgery, Pedroia's return to the lineup and then return to the DL, Ellsubry's return to the lineup and then return to the DL, Mike Lowell rejoining the team as an everyday player, Kalish showing why he was such a touted prospect, the return of Daniel Nava, the demotion of Jeremy Hermida, Okie's trip to the DL, Ramon Ramirez getting traded to somewhere, and the expressionless but mighty Felix Doubront joining the bullpen. I'm sure other things happened that I missed, so be sure to point them out in the comments.

And those are just the things that have happened in the past few weeks. If you take the whole season, boy do you have a story. So even if the Sox don't make the playoffs (admit it, the thought has crossed your mind a time or two) you can't say it hasn't been a good season. For pure drama alone this season has been gold.

I'm already planning my off-season - watching the 2004 World Series DVDs my Mom bought me for my birthday, watching my 2007 World Series highlights DVD again, planning my trip to Spring Training, you get the idea. Not that I'm giving up on this season (au contraire!) but it's good to plan ahead. Last season left me bereft so quickly, I plan on being better prepared this time around. And you, what are your plans for the off-season?

As an aside, if you have not heard Victor Martinez' accent here is your chance.

The Week There Was No Baseball

This past week I was on vacation without a TV and went an entire week without seeing a baseball game and let me tell you, it was no fun. I tried to convince my husband to bring our old satellite dish and a receiver but he just looked at me like I was crazy. Of course, Josh Beckett chose the week I was on vacation to make his return and I did listen to 3 innings of that game on Friday because it was Josh Beckett and I had to be present in some way for his return. Despite my having missed everything this week I still have some random thoughts about the Red Sox to share.

- How odd to come back to find Nava gone, Hermida back, and Lowrie raised from the dead.

- Patterson went from hero to the goat pretty quickly after his error broke up Lester's perfect game last night.

- I called my sister yesterday and told her that for now she can wear the Wacky for Lackey shirt I bought her with pride but not to get too comfortable in it.

- Victor Martinez could be back as soon as Monday! Woot! I have been pretty down on Kevin Cash but as @shelley1005 pointed out to me last night on Twitter imagine what the past few weeks would have been like without him. So a big hat tip to Cash.

- Could a couple of weeks on the DL really cause Clay to have that much rust to shake off?

- I know Big Papi hit a home run last night and it was great to see him prove the naysayers wrong by winning the Home Run Derby but I still think there is a correlation between his decreased home runs since All-Star break and his participation.

- Who would have thought Scott Atchison would be so durable and useful?

- Jon Lester angry is a scary sight. I wouldn't want to meet angry Jon Lester anywhere. I would bet Hanley Ramirez agrees with me.

- I think Youk's new beard is a good look for him.

- Found out this morning that Daniel Bard is the Red Sox union player's representative. Daniel Bard? If I were a player on the Red Sox I would want someone aggressive to be my rep. Maybe Youk or Beltre.

- Josh Beckett is back. Need I say more?

Do you have any random Red Sox thoughts? Share below.

Photo from http://letsgosox.blogspot.com/

The Red Sox Continue Their Schizophrenia

I was feeling confident going into the series against the Yankees after sweeping the Angels. After all, we were going up against them with Beckett, Buchholz, and Lester. Sure, we all know the Yankees are good this year and they'd be hard to beat but I thought the chances were good we'd take at least 2 games.

Friday night's game was heart sickening to watch. Beckett started out better than I have seen him since, well, since last August when he stopped pitching like Josh Beckett. Who knows what happened to him out there in the 6th inning but it was painful in the extreme to watch. It was like watching a car accident. You can't look away no matter how much you want to. Hitting 2 Yankees players and hitting Jason Varitek? What was going on with Josh Beckett that night? I am certain beyond a doubt that he didn't hit anyone on purpose but the whole thing was bizarre and painful.

I only caught a couple of innings of Saturday's rain delayed marathon of a game but it was enough to show me that the Red Sox hadn't shown up to play that game either. Clay was average at best and in the end it was an embarrassing rout.

So it was with some trepidation that I sat down to watch Sunday's game. The only thing that kept me from being completely pessimistic was the thought that Jon Lester was pitching and perhaps we would be spared a complete blowout. Well, not only did Jon Lester deliver (because he is a pitching god) but the offense decided to wake up and show the Yankees that they weren't dead after all. It seemed like everyone was in on the act last night (except for Victor Martinez). Jeremy Hermida and his great beard delivered just when we needed it. Scuturo seemed to get on base frequently. Beltre, sporting new glasses, got in some hits. Drew seemed to get a hit every time he was up and even Big Papi got in on it. And of course, the ever reliable Youk and Pedroia (sporting high socks no less) got in some hits as well. The sure sign for me that everything was going well was when the Yanks took Jeter and ARod out of the game because they knew it was already lost.

Now the Blue Jays are coming to town. The Sox swept them in Toronto last time they faced each other so I'm feeling smug. I'll be there on Tuesday and Wednesday. You can find me near the bullpen on Wednesday giving Josh encouragement that those Jays have nothing on him.