Category: Baseball

Game Day – Get Hyped

Hello and welcome to the first game day for the 2021 American League Championship Series. Are you psyched? Are you feeling the hype?

If you’re outside of Boston or Houston do you care?

I just tried to read an article about what a slap in the face it is to have the two teams wrapped up in the sign stealing scandal playing each other (again) for a shot at the World Series. I say I tried reading it because I couldn’t get passed the avalanche of video adds playing on the page that would not stop running even when I manually stopped them. I closed the page and I’m annoyed enough to not even link the article at all. Screw your shitty web development. Speaking of shitty, I am using a shitty browser right now… I wonder if I can get an add blocker extension? Probably not.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, the trash cans.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the rest of the country flushes this series down the toilet and gives it the worst ratings in ratings history. I actually kinda hope that happens. I am a Red Sox fan and always will be. It’s DNA. I am physically incapable of anything else. Having said that. My team cheated. My team cheated and won a World Series. Houston did it too. Houston developed the trash can banging sign stealing system so I could say that I put most of the blame for the fiasco on them, except that the ringleader was Alex Cora who is our manager.

The fact that the players were not punished is both laughable and insulting. The fact that both managers involved are back in the league is ridiculous. The fact that Alex Cora was fired by the Red Sox when the suspension was handed down, and then rehired when the suspension was up is… I don’t have the words to describe how terrible that is. How disgusting. How offensive. How… evil.

So the whole thing is just gross. If you’re not an Astros or Red Sox fan, please do your best to remind everyone of how awful this is for the league. Don’t hold back. Also, don’t watch. For those of us who are Astros or Red Sox fans. Go ahead and continue to be fans. Root for your favorite team. Rah Rah Rah and all that. Just don’t be one of those assholes who denies the scandal or defends their actions. What they did was shit. Defending it makes you shitty by association. They did it. They suck. We as fans have to take the abuse that entails. Just take it.

Alex Cora is a cheater and so are many of the players who played for him three years ago, some of whom are still playing for him now. I am still rooting for the Red Sox.

Six hours (approximately) to game time.

Still Up

I’m still awake. I shouldn’t be, but I am. Patches keeps trying to steal my side of the bed. This means war, feline.

The Dodgers and the Giants are tied at one a piece after six innings. I’m not watching, but it looks like it’s a good game. Let’s just hope the Red Sox win in a blow out tomorrow. I don’t want any stress.

I keep bitching about this, but there are a bunch of NHL teams that have played two games already and the Bruins don’t play at all until Saturday, two days from now. The Seattle Kraken have played two games and they didn’t even exist before this season. Why? I want hockey, damn it!

Look at her… taking up my space. Bed hog cat.

Dodgers or Giants

I’ve been hyper focused on the Red Sox this season and I haven’t really given any thought to any of the other teams. Now that the Red Sox are in the ALCS (game one is tomorrow, Chris Sale is starting and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not) I should probably take a look at who else is left. The National League Division Series will end tonight. It’s game five between the Giants and the Dodgers.

These two teams had the best win/loss records in the majors this year. The Giants finished at 107-55, just ahead of the Wild Card winning Dodgers who were 106-56. I don’t want to get ahead of things for the Red Sox. The chances of beating Houston in a seven game series are pretty slim. Still… who do I want to see come out of the NL? The Braves are already into the NLCS but they just earned the right to get their asses kicked by whoever wins tonight’s game.

The Dodgers were the team we beat in the 2018 World Series. They did come back to win it all in what passed for a season last year. Yippee for them. It would be fun to face them again, but they have Mookie Betts now. Do I really want to face Mookie?

As for the Giants… they were the better team this year, but I am thinking it might be time for some payback. Allow me to explain how they insulted the Red Sox so thoroughly…

In 1903 there was no Major League Baseball. There were two major professional leagues that were not actually associated to each other. The National League was older and had more clout. The American League was newer and generally considered inferior. That year, an agreement was made to have the winner of each league play each other in what was to be called the World Series. The Pittsburgh Pirates were the NL champs, and the Boston Americans (who eventually became the Red Sox) won the AL. They played a best of nine series and Boston won in eight games.

In 1904 it was expected that there would be another World Series. Boston won the AL pennant again, and the New York Giants won the NL. The owner of the Giants refused to let his team participate because he thought the American League was not worthy, even though the American League team had won the year before. The fans were royally pissed off and over the off season the agreement between the two leagues was formalized and the World Series became an official thing.

So in 1904 the Giants screwed the Red Sox out of a World Series. The New York Giants moved to San Francisco and tonight they are playing the Dodgers, another New York expatriate, for the right to stomp Atlanta in the NLDS.

I don’t know about the rest of Red Sox Nation, but I’m still pretty pissed off about 1904 and I really like the idea of getting some effin’ payback.

Still… it’s way too early to think about any of this. Whoever wins tonight wins and moves on. The Red Sox need to focus on the Astros and not worry about anything going on in that other league.

Okay, in closing I should give Atlanta the benefit of the doubt. If I write them off now it pretty much guarantees they will win. I’ve mentioned tenuous connections to Los Angeles and San Francisco (all I really needed to focus on was that they are both originally from New York which makes me hate them almost as much as I hate the Yankees), so what about Atlanta?

Well this one is the most obvious. Atlanta is the reason my fellow Bostonians and I do not have a National League team of our own. Before they were in Atlanta, the Braves were in Milwaukee. Before they were in Milwaukee… they were in Boston. They left us. They slipped away in the night and left us without an NL team. I personally would have loved to have an NL team in town. I would have been a Red Sox fan first and foremost, but I would have rooted for the Braves too. I would have gone to Braves games when the Sox were on the road. Absolutely I would have. But no… they left… and I will never forgive them. The jerks.

Awake

Still awake. I wanted to go to sleep early but it wasn’t happening. Oh well, I’ll keep trying.

I just watched the first episode of Y the Last Man on Hulu. Color me hooked so far.

I wish Major League Baseball had booked game one of the ALCS for tomorrow instead of Friday. I have all this built up hype and no where to put it.

I still don’t know why the NHL season opened on the 12th but the Bruins don’t play until the 16th. Is it a TV rights thing? The NHL is back with ESPN for the first time in something like 300 years. Figures. NBCsn streams to an iOS app. ESPN only streams to subscribers. Jerks.

I mentioned we are going up to Vermont on Saturday. We are bringing cold weather clothing to Bellana (and bringing warm weather clothes back home with us) and we are meeting Harry for lunch. I can’t wait. Weekly FaceTime calls are great, but I’m looking forward to actual face time.

Okay, I’m going to put some music on and see if I can sleep. Talk to you all tomorrow.

ALCS Matchup is Set

Houston beat Chicago today. The American League Championship Series match up is set. We know who we’ll be playing, we just don’t know when yet.

The last time the Red Sox went to the ALCS they faced the Astros. That was 2018. It took five games to beat them. Then it took five games to beat the Dodgers for the World Series. I could handle seeing an outcome like that again.

Now they just need to announce the date and time for game one.

Playoff Bracket

I think the chances of the Red Sox advancing out of the ALCS are about the same, zero, as the chance they had of advancing out of the ALDS, but obviously I have no idea what I’m talking about. Clearly.

Bring on the Astros or the White Sox. I’m ready for game one!

The Red Sox Win the Division Series!!!

Holy shit, the Red Sox just won game four with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth, 6-5!

I was sure the Rays were going to utterly murderize us. I thought we’d be out in three and, can you believe it, they won it in four!

The Sox have moved on to the the AL Championship series. They will play the winner of the Houston/Chicago series (Houston is up two games to one).

How awesome is this?

Eighth Inning

The top of the eighth inning just started. The Red Sox have a 5-3 lead but the Rays have a runner on second with nobody out.

Am I panicking?

Hell yes, I’m panicking!

Panic!

Hold that lead!

Addendum: I haven’t even had time to click the publish button and it’s 5-4 with a runner on second and still no outs.

Shitshitshitshitshit

Game Four – Halfway There

Heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Red Sox are up 5-1. All five runs came in the bottom of the third. That was fun to listen to.

Now we are getting to the nervous point. Tampa Bay just scored for the first time in the top of the fifth. I am afraid of overconfidence. It was during the 2004 World Series run, when they broke the 86 year slump, that everyone in my family (I think, at least) started using the phrase “cautiously optimistic” all of the time, which probably annoyed the crap out of everyone.

It’s important though. Over confidence leads to the ball going through Bill Buckner’s legs. Cautious optimism leads to coming back from a three games to none deficit to beat the Yankees.

Cautious optimism, folks. Let’s hold that lead and put the best team in the AL away tonight.