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.

Cuts Like a Knife

Perhaps I am dating myself here but Bryan Adams' "Cuts Like a Knife" video was the first video I ever saw on MTV (at my grandmother's house, we didn't have cable at the time). Yesterday's Red Sox game reminded me of that video, minus the "but it feels so right" line and Bryan Adams hanging out in an empty swimming pool.

Watching Oki blow that game was like a knife to the gut. I was standing there pounding my forehead with my fist and screaming at Tito to get him out of there. The offense could have made a comeback. It was not beyond possibility but with the way they've been hitting lately it would have been surprising. 

Tonight (hopefully) we get the return of V-Mart which can only be good. I must admit to having some trepidation that his long absence will has cooled his bat off, especially since he got off to such a slow start this season. Also, I don't want to heap too much hope on one guy. V-Mart's a good hitter but he's not going to single-handedly turn things around. We do have John Lackey on the mound tonight and he has been pitching pretty well lately but if even Jon Lester couldn't get a win I'm not counting on starting pitching to win this for us. Three more nights of these west coast games and then the boys come home (and we can all go to bed at a reasonable hour again).