Sox bounce back to take the second game from Philly. Papelbon was himself again.

Nobody wants to talk about Willie Randolph getting fired at 3 a.m.? :eek:

OK- it's 3am so I'll comment.......

That was absolutely ridiculous how the Mets handled that. Fly Willy and two coaches out to the coast and then make 'em immediately fly back. Too bad because Willy Randolph always has been a class act. He took the fall for a GM who put together a very flawed, over-rated team imo. It had terrible pitching, both starters and relief.....weak defense....supposed superstars who aren't like Beltran......and key ballplayers like Delgado and Alou who are over the hill.

Prediction....the Yankees will give him some kinda position while he's waiting for another shot somewhere. They take care of their alumni....and Randolph can help any team.

Or even Ted Williams' freeze-dried head??!

btw Hank's already making noises as if Willie will move to the other NYC MLB team soon enough

Detroit Tiger Marcus Thames' last eight hits have been home runs.
...And a nice man, too!

If you insist.....

Maybe the BoxSox are planning their very own Monument Park. And instead of having a bust on a monument, they can mount Teddy Ballgame's actual head. Maybe put it in one of those freezers that you see at the 7-11...the ones holding the cold pop and sixpacks. They could also easily trot ol' Ted out on opening days then. Can't get him to throw out the opening pitch because....well...he ain't got any arms. But that shouldn't stop him from singing the National Anthem though.

Think of the possible new mottoes too....like.....<i>"Watch our Red Sox get ahead."</i>

Sound like a plan?

Any player that hits ol' Teddy's head on the fly with a batted ball gets to referee an NBA finals game.

Sox take 2 out of 3 from Philadelphia. Pretty good road trip, even without Manny and Papi.

Tiger's packing it in for the rest of the year. That's huge.

Complete with their very own book of instructions, put out by David Stern......

Manny and Papi? Sounds like a singing group from the 60's.

The Tigers have packed it in? Hell, they were leading 5-1 a few minutes ago. Has Mick found out yet?

:)
He nose.

She was the one who choked on the ham sandwich, no?

Warning: extremely poor taste ahead. . .

If Mama Cass had only shared her sandwich with Karen Carpenter, they would both be alive today. :eek:

Finally.

After 8929 posts, a bunch of crappy camp games, even more crappy camp meals, even more crappy rules arguments, a few diet cokes at Hooters and 1 shared shower... Chuck finally says something funny.

J.D. Drew's slugging percentage for the month of June is 1.085. Not a bad fill-in for Ortiz.

One of the SportsCenter announcers nicknamed him "Little Papi." I hope it sticks.

(More importantly, though, I hope he keeps hitting well even after Ortiz comes back (if Ortiz comes back this season).)

It's appropriate. He should be on the DL shortly too....just like Big Papi.

He's overdue for bi-monthly injury.

Stupid Giants...why do they torment me so?

All you need to know. From March 28:

Sorry. :(

Hey, you fans deserve it for your vigorous and undying support of Mr. PotatoHead over the last few years, even though you knew he was a 'roid monster.

The Curse Of The Bonds has been placed on y'all!:eek:

Hey I was ready to get rid of Bonds after his performance (or lack thereof) in the 2002 World Series against the Angels. Now that they are finally rid of him, they are stuck with Barry Zito and his huge contract. Maybe its the curse of the Barrys! :eek:

Chuck...rub it in some more why don'tja? :o

Schilling's done for the season. :(

While sad, does this honestly surprise you?

Whine, whine, whine....:rolleyes:

You're better off without that jerk. His "best by" date was a coupla years ago anyway, and I think that even the most rabid Sox fans will admit that the clown is a complete dickhead.

How about the Yankees? Wang is out until at least September. Phil Hughes is gonna miss about 4 months of the season and Ian Kennedy is gonna miss about 3 months. That's 60% of this year's planned starting rotation gone bye-bye for mist of the season. And of course, that doesn't even count the immortal Carl Pavano, who is 0 for 4 years. Bruney and Abedejo out of the bullpen are out for the year too. Do see us crying and moaning? In the words of the hallowed Hector Lopez <i>"No way, Jose"</i>.

Well, good ol' Hank decided to go on a tirade about how he wouldn't have injured his ankle in an AL park.

Here's a hint - he's a professional athlete who should be able to run 90 feet without spraining his ankle. If he can't, pinch run for him!

Wow. I honestly think you're way off on that assessment. The guy came here and won a World Series. Not by himself, obviously; but it sure wouldn't have happened without him. I'm sure lots of people think he talks too much. But I think you will find very few Sox fans (at least pre-'04 fans) who share your view of him. JMO.

We need a poll.

Don't put Hank in with us fanboys. He's over there in the group called the Lucky Sperm Club. Change his last name and he's selling t-shirts outside the Stadium.

Fwiw, I do agree with you about expecting all <i>beisbol</i> players to be able to run. Pitchers are a l'il different though. They come in some very non-athletic body shapes. Classic example- David Wells. If they hadda made Budweiser a restricted substance, his career woulda been about 2 months long.

Yet he threw a perfect game. Maybe Bud should be a restricted substance. :D

Oh and JR, if your "Wang is out", you guys should really put it away.

Tigers' Marcus Thames has a string of 9 homeruns in his last nine hits.
Pretty cool. :cool:
He has 14 for the year.

That can't be right , Mick. He was 1-4 on Friday night, and that hit was a double.

EDIT:Close. Just read the story in the Freep. It's nine out of his last 10 hits.

Thanks, JR. :)
I still like my boys, Mario Impemba and Rod Allen.

Go Cubs. :)

Did you get a look at the Cubs pictures that I took? Ya gotta admire a fan like that...

With the tragic passing of one of the best comedians ever - seems appropriate to share George Carlin's legendary skit - "Baseball and Football"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YphEUa5LPjM

RIP George

(PS - tried to embed, YouTube doesn't seem to like it)

Sox score 4 in the bottom of the 8th and Papelbon gets the save as the Sox win last night. Red Sox have lost the first game in each of their last 6 series. They've come back to win 4 of the previous 5. The only series they've lost in this stretch is the St. Louis series.

Bill Mazeroski throws out the first pitch in Pittsburgh and the Pirates crush the Yankees 12-5.

Former Sox Bronson Arroyo became the first pitcher since 1900 to give up 10 runs and 11 hits in 1 inning of work. Ouch.

Mets get blanked and blown out by DJ's Mariners, but how about umpire Brian Runge initiating contact with manager Jerry Manuel during a Carlos Beltran at-bat? Probably not a huge deal if it happened 20 years ago, but you never see that anymore. Anybody think a suspension is coming?

Tampa Bay wins again to remain 1 game back in the AL East; and even with a loss last night, Florida is only 1 back in the NL East.

Well, Chuck is posting pretty regularly now with assorted annoyingly inane sox nation news flashes.. so that can only mean 1 thing. Baseball season is in full swing which of course means we're also into the WNBA season.

Enjoy

http://www.theonion.com/content/info...son_highlights

LOL.....the WNBA....faaaaaaantastic! And watched by 143 people every year...

it's true, it's true!:D

Thanks, Slappy.

Mets-Yankees......what an absolutely crappy ballgame to watch.....:rolleyes:

The only halfway exciting thing was the Chuck Elias sighting in the fifth inning.

Is that pesky squirrel back at the stadium?

The EPA may never let them tear down the old stadium. Natural habitat of the endangered grey squirrel. :rolleyes:

Tigers 39 W - 40 L
Ooh! I almost wet myself!

Tigers have been on quite a roll over the last 3 weeks, Mick. They've won 14 of their last 18. Last night, Granderson had 4 hits, including 2 triples. He has a 15-game hitting streak, which a career-high for him.

Pedro took the loss in Game 2 of the Yanks/Mets doubleheader. :(

Pedroia had 3 hits, Youk had 4 and Drew had the big 3-run shot. Dice-K pitched 5 innings, 4 of which were great, and Papelbon gets a 4-out save. Nice to finally win the first game of a series.

I can't wait to get out to that park in Houston, it looks pretty darn cool. Won't be this year, tho.

Minute Maid Park? :)

Not if I can help it! :D

Any Texas folks want to offer suggestions for a "real" name for the Astros' ballpark?

Ok, here's a Yankee tidbit instead. On this date in 1907, the Washington Senators swiped 13 bases against the Yankees, who had Branch Rickey at catcher.

Oh, what the heck, here's a piece of Sox history, too. On this date in 1984, Dwight Evans hit a 3-run walk-off homer in the 11th inning, to give Boston a win over DJ's Mariners. The HR not only won the game, but gave Evans the cycle for the day.

Losing a no hitter
 

"Jered Weaver and Jose Arredondo combined to no-hit the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night - and it still wasn't good enough for the Los Angeles Angels." - from msn.foxsports.com

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/wcSto...#story=8295630

I still remember Matt Young doing this while with the Red Sox. What a lousy feeling.

It doesn't go into the record book as a no-hitter though. To qualify as a no-hitter under MLB rules, the Dodgers had to bat in the ninth.

Dodgers managed just 3 hits on Sunday vs. the Angels on Sunday.
Angels won 1-0.

All 3 games in the series were shutouts (Dodgers taking 2 of the 3).
Angels totaled 1 run on 15 hits.
Dodgers totaled 7 runs on 13 hits.

:rolleyes:

How about the Astro Dome?
NASA Stadium?

Manny being Manny...
 

And in the latest example of "Manny being Manny" (tm), Manny didn't get the number of free tickets he wanted....so.....Manny shoves the BoSox traveling secretary to the ground.

The man is all class.

http://www.boston.com/sports/basebal...ramirez_w.html

At first I thought you were making the story line up... like one of your "it's true, it's true" posts, but now I read that Manny did do this. What a piece of work.

First time since 1987 that a team has scored only one run in a series, and yet not been swept.

Maybe somebody drank all Jobu's rum before that series started. . .

I'm not sure about giving the stadium the same name as the old one. I like the NASA reference, tho. Is there a particular person within Houston's NASA community that is deserving?

That's definitely not Manny being Manny. If true, it's unsettling, especially after the incident with Youkilis. I would hope for (but not expect) some sort of team discipline.

On the other hand, the only information we have is this one article from a Providence, RI beat writer. I'd like to hear a statement from the traveling secretary, other than "it's behind us now".

Honestly, I can't picture Manny shoving the guy to the floor b/c the guy said, "I might not be able to get you more than 16 tickets, Manny." There has to be more to it. I'm not excusing Manny's actions if he really did push the guy down, but there has to be more here.

Not to ruin your entire day but you may want to spend at least part of the long weekend rethinking your position on Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Manny.

In the meantime if you send me your bank account & SS numbers I'll begin processing that $1M transfer from Nigeria.

You're saying Manny doesn't actually exist?!?!?! :eek: That's going to make the Hall of Fame induction ceremony a little awkward. . .

No, not at all.

I'm saying that *your* version of Manny does not exist.

Here's a good candidate: Covington Field. Dr. Benjamin Jesse Covington was a black doctor who worked his way through medical school and then established the first city hospital for blacks, starting with only 10 beds. He also developed the first formula for battling the influenza virus.

Are you saying that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth fairy don't actually exist? ( double :eek: )

No, just that *your* versions don't exist.

(And I'd never seen the tooth fairy in a thong before you sent me that picture...)

Well, I just returned from vacation yesterday evening. Had one heck of a time touring 7 different ballparks in 8 days. Our off day from the ballpark was a stop in Cooperstown.

6/21: Philly
6/22: New York - Yankee Stadium
6/23: New York - Shea Stadium
6/24: Boston
6/25: Cooperstown
6/26: Toronto
6/27: Detroit
6/28: Cleveland

Saw a lot of good action and a lot of road time. We were able to see a HR in each game except in Detroit.

Nice trip.
I only know Cooperstown.

WHAT?!?!?! No PM? No email? You practically drove right past my bridge! You probably drove right through Springfield on the Mass Pike. I could've met you for a Diet Coke just to say I met somebody else from the forum! You wouldn't even have had to shower with me!!

At the very least, you will have to give your own ratings of the ballparks that you visited. My trip isn't until August.

I almost did, but I figured you were busy in your off season so I didn't want to bother you. We did dine at a nice little place called Beer Works right across from the stadium. We got into Boston a little late driving through some heavy rain. We drove from Foxwoods in CT so I'm not sure how we came. We parked at Riverside (?) and rode straight into Fenway.

Best park would have to be Detroit. They had an awesome rib place out in center field and a very nice park.

Atmosphere goes to Fenway... it was awesome and the kicker came when Sweat Carolina was played.

Shea was most certainly the worst. They had "box" seating with metal poles all over the place. Didn't give you much room and it felt like you were on a roller coaster. We did get to see the grand slam by the pitcher so that was cool.

Philly had a very nice park too. I was able to enjoy a famous Philly cheesesteak or as the locals call them "steaks". It was great!

Springfield is about midway between Boston & Albany on the Mass Pike, which is probably the way you got to Cooperstown. You could have hooked up wth Chuck at Foxwood's too, he works nights there in the dwarf tossing parlor.

I can't imagine Chuck tossing dwarfs.

Oh, wait, never mind.

He's the timekeeper.

I thought he was the 2nd assistant timekeeper. Was he promoted? Way to go, CHUCK!!!

Chuck

How far off the path are you from the Riverside train?

He wasn't the tosser. He was the "tossee". :D

Big deal....A-Rod is boinking Madonna. That puts him into an exclusive class....along with 83.4% of Manhattan.....and the Bronx....and Brooklyn....and California....and.....

Rays rally to sweep Red Sox

Sorry Chuck.

You don't sound all that sorry.:D

I like seeing somebody new win, especially a team that has been down for a while. It's good for the game to spread the success around.

The Rays are due, that law of averages thing.

It's good to see you guys become Cub fans as well. ;)

I do pull for the Cubs, but tonight I have to go with Lincecum.

Ah, just a fair-weather fan.

Nope, just a fair-bettor fan. :D

That was pretty painful, especially blowing the last game. It wasn't completely a surprise, tho, since the home team has won every game in this year's series, and the Rays juggled their rotation to line up their top 3 starters for the series.

The Rays are playing great baseball, and their doing it with Boston's formula from '04: particularly, the part about emphasizing defense over offense. As I've said, if they weren't in the AL East, I'd be rooting for them 100%.

Last night's 7-0 blanking of the Yankees did help to take some of the sting out of the Tampa Bay series, tho. :)

Mariners' back-up catcher took the loss in a 15 inning game against the Tigers.

Great game last night with the Yankees winning in 10 innings. Sorry Chuck. Brett who?

How about all the complaining with Laz Diaz' strike zone and every time ESPN would show K Zone; Laz was right.

I was noticing that too. Does anyone know how ESPN does their "K-Zone"? Are there electronics involved with the actual plate and ball, like a GPS system, or is it done with a computer and just the camera and monitor, which is probably more of an approximation?

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/articl...rikes-computer
;)

Cool! Thanks, mick.

Trivia
 

TRIVIA QUESTION:

For what is Bill Mazeroski known for?

He hit a walk off home run to beat the Yankees in game seven of the 1960 World Series at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Anyway, that's my guess!

I see the Cubs have filled a hole on their DL.

My, aren't you quite the cynic. :p

As Jim Hendry, GM of the Cubs, said this morning, if Harden wasn't a risk Billy Beane would have never even considered trading him since he still has another year on his contract.

Now it will be interesting to see what, if anything, the Cardinals do in response to the arms race.

:D
Missile Defense?

Well, I think it's just fine that those two fellas are in the real baseball league. :)

Saw an interesting play in the KC/TB game on Monday night. With a runner on first, one of the KC batters (don't remember who it was) hit a weak popup right in front of the plate. He just stood there, obviously disgusted with his lack of hitting skills, muttering a few choice words to himself, and the catcher did a smart thing - he waited for the ball to come down instead of catching it, threw it right to second and started the easy 2-4-3 double play. The batter realized he needed to start running when the ball was already halfway to second, so it was way too late.

Smart move by the TB catcher. Dumb move by the KC batter. Don't we all learn in Little League to run everything out?

Uh, uh - not allowed. If they try that Chicago will obviously consider that a provocation and will have to go in and blow up the Budweiser factory or somethin'.

Doesn't this qualify as an infield fly?

I suppose you wouldn't mind if the White Sox or Twins started trading some of their starters to the NL either? :D

Do you think the Tigers will make a move by the deadline?

I guess that wouldn't be considered as an attack on a U.S. property. :(

Only a runner on first.

Wouldn\'t be smart, as it would start a war with high school students everywhere.

Doh! Brain fart.