I’m Only Dreaming

(Photo from PawSox.com)

The PawSox lost again tonight. They haven’t scored a run in twenty innings straight and Kyle is the scheduled starter for Wednesday night.

Scoring needs to start NOW boys. Kyle best be getting the win.

Alex Cora will be starting his rehab assignment on Wednesday too. And then Sean Casey will be joining in at the end of the week. So if you’ve been thinking of taking in a PawSox game (and you can get tickets!), this would be a good week to get down there. (Not that you need major-leaguers as an excuse to go. The team is fun to watch without the Coras and Caseys of the world too!)

Another great game for the Red Sox. Lots of scoring and fabulous pitching. (The two “old” guys got it done!) More of this, please. (Cherry on sundae of day: Joba Chamberlain blowing a lead in the 8th by giving up a 3-run, pinch-hit homer.)

Wake really looked great. I love seeing him pitch well. Makes me want to say “told you so” to those who want to put him out to pasture just because he’s over forty. My man Mike Timlin pitched well in the ninth after not having pitched for a while – so it was fun to watch the guys dominate. 🙂

A discussion came up recently on who our favorite players are. Lifetime favorites, you know? The players who made you really care about baseball. The ones you’ll never forget. For me, that player is Fred Lynn. I was six in the summer of 1975 and watching Fred Lynn in the outfield was the main thing that kept me hanging around with my father watching the games on tv.

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that the main thing that attracted me to him was that he was young and handsome. Even at 6 I could spot a hottie. But watching baseball because you think a player is cute will only last so long. Baseball isn’t the most action-packed sport, so if you’re only watching to see cute guys, well, that novelty will wear off soon.

I started getting excited at the prospect of seeing Freddie make a great catch. I wanted to see how many players would get a hit or hopefully a home run. I couldn’t wait to watch the games. Back then, I was at the mercy of my parents and a bedtime. Now I watch more baseball (not just the Red Sox) than most people I know. (While I’m writing this, at 12:08am, I’m watching ex-Sox hurler Alan Embree pitch against ex-Sox disgruntled outfielder Jay Payton.) I pay for the Extra Innings package on cable. I pay for MLB.tv and GameDay audio and follow games on my cell phone when I’m not near a computer or television.

I don’t do these things because I think the players are cute. I do them because baseball is my vice. Baseball gets me away from the ‘real world’ for a while. I like the game and I like the players. Sometimes I like more players than others – and as I’ve mentioned many times, I make no apologies for that. People watch “American Idol” every week and choose their favorites. I do the same thing with baseball. So, sure, there will be times when I might come across as being too “fangirly” because I choose to focus on a particular player. Tough nuts. There’s enough room in my fandom basket to appreciate the game AND the players.

Men want to drool over the women sideline reporters but get put off if women mention a handsome player? Get over it. The number of women fans in baseball grows with every year (and I’m from a long line of women baseball fans). Do some of them only pay attention because a guy looks good in baseball pants? Sure. I see plenty of those women at Fenway. But I also see (and KNOW) plenty of women who keep score at every game they attend, who follow the progression of minor league players and who know more about the rules of MLB than probably most of the players in the game do. They also happen to all think someone like Lenny Dinardo isn’t too hard on the eyes (which makes up for the way he pitches sometimes.) – I kid because I love. And because KellyJ lives far away from me and can’t reach me to smack me around. 🙂

Man. I didn’t plan to rant tonight. I was going to write about how May 7th is my dad’s 73rd birthday so I won’t be making the trip to Pawtucket to see Kyle pitch (not that I had tickets – I didn’t – but it would have been cool to see him start a game since the last time I was at a game Kyle started it was his first game with the Red Sox). I was going to write about how I’ll be spending my father’s birthday night with him and my mother watching the Red Sox. My sister will be there too. And my six year-old niece. Both also Red Sox fans. (Incidentally, Madison thinks Coco is adorable and he’s her favorite, yet she still likes to watch Jacoby when he plays because “he runs really fast!”. Six years old and she already has the fandom balancing act down.

I just switched off the O’s game to watch the replay of the Sox/Tigers game since I missed a good chunk of it first run. I’m hoping sleep decides to show up soon or you all might get another rambling essay. 🙂

Kick butt tomorrow night, Kyle. And here’s hoping your offense decides to show up early and often!