Monday, April 11, 2005
I know I've been very Tigers-centric lately, and I feel like I've been ignoring my beloved BoSox. This is not because of some assinine 'oh my gosh they won it all I am suddenly apathetic about the Red Sox' kind of thing. It's just hard to get really worked up about a lot of games that you're not seeing, especially when there's a perfectly good team that you love whose games you are seeing, a number of them on TV and one in person (see yesterday's entry).
So I'm a bit behind on the latest Red Sox news. So far as I can tell, from the articles and the message board chatter and whatnot, this is what has been going on:
And there's some stuff with the bullpen giving everyone heart attacks, and Schilling doing something so hideous on the hill in Pawtucket that Boston columnists were cleaning the tears out of their keyboards all week, and Manny being in something of a slump (although can you really slump 6 games into the season?), and Edgah giving himself a very lukewarm entry into the Boston consciousness, and DLowe suddenly being forgiven all past transgressions, including absolute suckitude in the regular season last year*.
There's that small matter of tomorrow, where the Sox will get some small articles of personal adornment, some little banners will be strung up, some old friends are supposedly dropping by, and other such small and sundry things will occur.
I'm in class from 1:30-4:30 (well, I have more class, but that's the one that'll interfere with the Home Opener). It's the Flash class, so we'll all be on our computers, and if MLB TV is streaming the pregame festivities I will attempt to sneak it on to watch. I don't know if this is going to be possible, though, so basically I hate Major League Baseball for scheduling the home opener during the day, on a weekday. Seriously, who does that? Evil people, that's who.
But hopefully I will get to watch at least some of it, and hopefully the next entry in this here blog will mostly consist of me saying things like 'Dave Robeeeerrrrrrttttsss! I miss Dave Roberts I want my Dave Roberts oh there was Dave Roberts!!!'
Oh, and the Tigs lost today. Bondy got touched up for 6 runs in the first inning, then settled down enough to go a full 6 innings and to retire the last 8 consecutive batters he faced. Although it was painful, it's important to note that a guy as young as Bonderman can recover from an absolutely horrific first inning to throw a respectable rest of the game. That bodes well. And yes he flipped out in the dugout after the 1st and chucked things around, but that just shows that he cares. Or something. Also, The Farns was nails. Big, tight-pantsed, 97-mph-throwing nails. The Farns. My love grows daily.
Mario and Rod, while announcing the game, gave us this:
"When they were going out to the field for practice today before the game, Pudge was walking behind Farnsworth, and he said 'Hey man, give me a ride out to the field!' [Kyle Farnsworth is 6'4, 240... Pudge is 5'9, 195] So Farnsworth picked up Pudge and carried him on his back out to the field. Pudge looked like a little kid on his back."
AND THEN THEY DID NOT SHOW US VIDEO OF THIS HAPPENING. Which is, clearly, a horrible thing for them to do. You cannot say something like that, and tantalize us with it, and not show it to us. Because, oh my goodness. The Farns giving Pudge a piggyback ride around the field. I NEED TO SEE THIS THING, NOT MERELY IMAGINE ITS IMMENSE AWESOMENESS.
Continuing the injury-centric start to baseball this year, Pavano got beaned in the head by Melvin Mora but is apparently OK, with a mild concussion. DLowe got beaned in the elbow by Craig Counsell and it looked nasty, they just showed the replay on Sportscenter. He went down to his knees, then keeled over, and put his hat over his face because he was in so much pain. X-rays were negative but he's listed as 'day-to-day', whatever the hell that means. Justin Morneau, after being hit on the head with a pitch by Ron Villone, is experiencing very severe headaches days later, and the Twins are keeping him out of the lineup for now. Apparently he used to play hockey as a kid and got several pretty severe concussions back then. He was hit so hard that his batting helmet and his head both showed seam marks from the baseball.
And, after seeing the first Sunday Night Baseball ESPN showing of the year, I have only a few things to say.
1. Johan Santana is an awesome, awesome pitcher and I'm totally rooting for him to do well this season unless it impinges upon the Tigers' run for the division championship. Also, his parents were so cute.
2. I hate that fucking dome. And the announcer for the game (whoever it was) gave us the most insightful look at the dome I've ever heard: "This is not a retractable roof. It's just... always.... there." ESPN: the frontrunners of sports reporting.
3. Sometimes I forget that Carl Everett is still playing baseball.
4. I like how ESPN tried to hype this up as though it was a huge rivalry. The Twins and the White Sox, dire enemies! And they showed that one clip of Torii Hunter running over the ChiSux catcher last year. Please. They're rivals in the sense that they're division rivals, but they're not bigger rivals than the Tigers/Twinkies, or Tigers/ChiSux, or Tigers/Inbreeds, or Inbreeds/ChiSux, or Twinkies/Inbreeds. We're all playing catch-up to the bloody Twins in this division anyways.
5. Is it just me, or did the Twins fans cheer extra hard whenever AJ Pierasdkljsdfljksdfljsky struck out?
6. They ain't kiddin' when they say that Mark Buerhle works fast. He took no time at all between some of his pitches.
7. Dear Sunday Night Baseball-- Your intro music sucks. A lot. Custom lyrics with bad rock riffs that fails to sound good with your chosen graphics and video montage is never a good thing. Change it pronto, please. --Hugs and kisses, the Boston Fan in Michigan.
That's all I've got for now. Red Sox home opener later today! Let your excitement begin to build now.
*I will love DLowe forever and ever for what he did for us in the 2004 postseason, and for his admitted Tiger fandom, and I wish him all the best in Dodgertown. But can we please stop acting like his career with us was all flowers and kittens? Can we please remember how much he sucked at times? The Derek Lowe Face? I know winning glosses over the ugly bits, but really people, keep a sense of perspective here.
OMG DLowe I miss yooooooouuuuu!
2:02 AM
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