 George Kottaras is random since I don’t mention him in today’s entry! Photo taken by Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.net in June 2009 and used with permission. |
Randomness on this rainy day:
* I’ll say it right now…Jon Lester is going to throw a no-hitter tonight. Everything is lining up for it. They’re playing the Marlins, the weather will be miserable and I’m going to be there. Instant classic! (I should point out that I’m at tonight’s game with KellyO. We go to a lot of games together but we don’t usually sit together since we both usually buy singles. Tonight we’ll be sitting together. This bodes well for Crabby’s outing as we sat together for Clay’s no-hitter. The mojo is there the few times we actually get to watch a game next to each other!)
Okay, maybe he won’t throw a no-hitter but as long as the game gets played he’ll come damn close.
* While getting ready for work today, I spent the better part of the morning watched the Red Sox On Demand on Comcast. This has probably sealed, for me, the notion that I will NEVER get rid of Comcast no matter how many hundreds of dollars they charge me for their services.
* According to the Wall Street Journal’s research, only 26 currently active major leaguers (including managers) have graduated from college. They also ranked each team on how smart they were collectively and Boston tied for second place (with Arizona and Tampa Bay – Oakland ranked first). The way they decided the rankings:
The Count ranked every ballclub by its education. Players who earned college degrees got twice the points as players who just attended. Starting players were weighted more heavily, as were players who attended elite schools. Managers were also included in the formula.
Boston would have taken first had Craig Breslow still been on the team!
* I’m not sure if it was the liveliness of the live blog, the joy of the Yankees losing to the Nats and knowing a win would give the Sox another game up, or a combination of many things, but last night’s Sox game felt intense to me. Like it was a must-win. Which, of course, it wasn’t. Penny seeming to struggle (at least if we’re going by pitch count) early made me think it would be another long night. Watching Penny get his 100th win (along with a welt that Terry Francona likened to a pacemaker when he touched hit) in the middle of the “Do we trade him or go with the 8-man rotation?” questions was sweet. I want Penny to do well while he’s in Boston. And if he’s still our number 5 guy come July, I think I could be all right with that. This goes against my whole “Bring Clay Up!” mantra but I’m good with having Clay cool his heels in Pawtucket if it’s because everything is going so well in Boston.
* Speaking of Pawtucket and our pitching: Last night seemed like the night of a thousand pitches all around. John Smoltz’ pitching line at McCoy? 4 innings, 3 hits, 1 (earned) run, 1 walk and 2 strike outs on 61 pitches. Buchholz’? (I don’t think we have enough players on the team whose name ends in “z”, do you?) 4 innings, 2 hits, 2 (earned) runs, 2 walks and 6 strike outs on 80 pitches and both gave up a home run. PawSox won and neither Smoltz nor Buchholz hurt anything…so it was a good night.
* I can’t be the only person who has noticed that Jason Bay seems as humorless as people accuse JD Drew of being. KellyO’s description of his reaction to Bobby Orr coming out of the Green Monster last night nails it:
…picture Orr beaming and laughing and Jay Bay looking like someone told him his dry cleaning was ready.
I have no problem with it. I actually like it. Everyone has their own personality. I just find it interesting that people love to call Drew a “robot” or worse when Jay Bay could be his double. (And I’ve seen them both get hot and loosen up while at Fenway so I don’t think either one is robot-like.)
* There’s a Yankees game at 1:05pm EST today – which means I can listen to Joba throwing at Ryan Zimmerman before I head out to Fenway tonight. I’m in Schadenfreude mode today – especially after hearing the Yankees fans booing Alex Rodriguez as he made an out last night. The Yankees losing a series to the Nats would melt the rain away.
* Thanks again to everyone who stopped by and contributed (or lurked) to the live blog! I have to go back and check but I think we only have one loss in the live blogs. Not too shabby. The plan is to live blog again next Wednesday when the Red Sox are playing the Nationals.
And congratulations to Red Sox Nation for selling out Fenway Park 500 games in a row. Bandwagoners my behind…this streak started in May of 2003. 2003 and 2004 (although the Sox went quite far in the post-season of both years) weren’t the BEST of regular seasons yet folks kept showing up, didn’t they? We were selling that place out before the 2003 ALCS and before the 2004 World Series. That isn’t bandwagoning. Well done, fans!