Category: Baseball

Starting Lineup

The Red Sox have released their starting lineup for the wild card game.

No J.D. Martinez. He screwed up his ankle Sunday by tripping over a base while running out to his position between innings. That’s what I read at least. I knew he hurt himself during the game. I did not see it though. I’m really hoping that isn’t what actually happened. I’m really hoping I read that in the onion without realizing.

No Chris Sale. Makes sense, but I thought he might be in the bullpen after only pitching a couple of innings Sunday. Does this mean the Sox aren’t all in? No, I don’t think so. Even if he was available, it’s unlikely he’d pitch. Make room for someone who actually might appear. Also, he’s coming off a massive surgery and he’s got about a billion trillion dollars left on a three year deal. I get it. Finances. It’s a business and all that shit. I get it.

Pretty much every sports pundit in America is picking the Yankees tonight. It’s the smart pick. Screw them though. Go Red Sox.

We’re about four hours away from the first pitch. Are we hyped? Oh yeah. We hyped.

Early Start

I was up early this morning and had some chores to do. Between taking the trash barrels to the street and going up and down the stairs to do laundry (the avalanche of Bellana clothes are finally folded and put away) I somehow managed to register 10 minutes of exercise without even having done any actual exercise. The activity app is off to a good start today.

I’m not sure what was going on, but the FaceID on my iPhone stopped working last night. It was working before I started cooking dinner but I noticed it wasn’t working just after we finished eating. Weird. It didn’t work once for the rest of the day. Right now? Working fine. I’m not sure what happened.

Today is my sister’s birthday. Being facebook free, I sent her a text instead of a post on facebook. I hope that is acceptable. I’m not sure what the protocol is anymore.

Speaking of facebook (giggles), that was kinda fun yesterday. Sure, it pulled the nazis over to Twitter for a while, but I managed to avoid all of that and just have fun reading the faux panic. Sounds like Zuckerberg lost about six billion dollars in stock value. I assume most of that was due to the 60 Minutes story Sunday night, but whatever. It’s all connected to his wallet one way or another. Granted it was just stock value, right? He’ll probably make it back today. It’s not like it’s real money or anything. It’s not like he’s going to need to take a second mortgage to pay his bills.

Okay, time to go to work. We need to get through the day so that we can focus all of our attention on the Red Sox beating the Yankees tonight. It’s a moral imperative. 8:00pm tonight, or thereabouts, we finally get payback for that friggin one game playoff back in ’78. Sure we beat them in 2004 and handed them the most humiliating playoff loss in major league baseball history (giggles), but still… I want one game playoff revenge. Suck it, Bucky Dent.

1978 Revisited

The Red Sox and the Yankees both won. Toronto and Seattle have been eliminated.

The wild card play in game is Tuesday at 8:00 at Fenway Park in Boston, MA.

Unlike the last time these two teams met at Fenway for a one game play off, Bucky Fucking Dent will not be starting at shortstop for New York. Praise be to the Fenway gods.

Whichever team comes out on top on Tuesday will win the honor of getting slaughtered by Tampa Bay.

Go Red Sox.

Baseball

The Red Sox are down 1-0 in the second. The Blue Jays are spanking the Orioles, the Yankees are scoreless, and the Mariners are losing.

Come on, Red Sox. Let’s get it together.

I asked my father if he has any clue what happens if we end in a four way tie. He hasn’t a clue either. I doubt anyone does.

We had a FaceTime call with Harry and we are hoping to have another with Bellana. Jen and I have both closed our exercise rings, which is awesome. We’ve got two episodes of The Walking Dead tonight (one from the main show and one from World Beyond), Jen and I are caught up on Ted Lasso and The Morning Show. I’m up to date on all the shows I’m watching on my own.

I haven’t played guitar at all this weekend. I need to, soon. I did get a flu shot yesterday. I’m qualified for a Covid-19 booster starting Thursday, so the flu shot was kinda like practice*.

The Red Sox are still down 1-0 after 2.5 innings. Not worried at all**.

And that’s where we are right now.

* No it wasn’t.

** Yes I am. I’m totally worried. I’ve been a Sox fan since the 70’s. The multiple championships since 2004 haven’t cured me of all of the heartbreak.

Wild Card Chaos

Today is the last day of the Major League Baseball regular season. 161 games down, one to go.

How is the American League Wild Card race looking?

It’s looking like friggin’ chaos, that’s how it’s looking.

The Red Sox are in the first wild card slot with a record of 91 wins and 70 losses. The fucking Yankees are in the second slot with a record of 91 wins and 70 losses. The Mariners and the Blue Jays are both one game back with records of 90 wins and 71 losses.

So if the Red Sox and the Yankees both lose today (please, I beg the ghost of Sam Horn do not let that happen, for the Red Sox at least. The Yankees can suck it for all I care) and the Blue Jays and the Mariners both win, then they all finish the season at 91 and 71 and there are doctoral theses* being written to figure out what happens then.

The Red Sox play the Nationals at 3:05 today. The Nationals suck but we needed a ninth inning rally to beat them last night. Chris Sale is pitching today which is awesome, but I would have much rather seen him pitch the wild card game. I guess we take what we can get, right?

Here’s hoping the Red Sox win, and everyone else loses and we get into the wild card game in the first slot and the other three teams can kill each other trying to get the last slot. That would be nice.

Go Red Sox.

  • The plural of thesis is theses. I typed that as if I knew it, but then when I read it over again I had to google it to make sure.

Sigh of Red Sox Relief

The Red Sox won and the Yankees lost. The Blue Jays won and the Mariners are tied 1-1 in the fifth.

The Sox and the Yankees have identical records but the MLB app has Boston in the first AL wild card slot, which means we have a tie breaker somewhere.

There is still one game to go, but we are one day closer to the Red Sox facing the Yankees in a one game play off, and those of us who remember 1978 and Bucky Fucking Dent are simultaneously shitting baseball sized bricks and stoked for some friggin’ pay back.

Baseball is fun.

Red Sox = Ulcer

We are down to the last weekend of the Major League Baseball season. My beloved Red Sox are clinging to the final American League playoff spot by the proverbial skin of their proverbial teeth.

Here is the current standings:

We could realistically finish the season on a four way tie in the wild card race. I’ve no clue how that would be handled. I’m sure there are tie breakers built into the standings, but could they all have to have play off games to make it to the play in game?

Note, three of the four teams are from the AL East. That’s crazy, but it gets worse. Check out the “if it ended today” bracket…

The first team the play in winner will face is yet another AL East team. How insane is that?

Needless to say, go Red Sox.

Look at My Cat, Again… Again

Okay, I’ll stop this gimmick now. For a while at least.

I just watched Venom. I don’t know why. It was okay. Probably better that a 30% on rottentomatoes.com. Not by much though. Decent but forgettable.

I just checked the MLB scores. The Red Sox won and the Mariners are losing. If that holds then we have the last AL wild card spot. please let it hold.

Okay, bed time. Here’s hoping I get some guitar in tomorrow.

Back at it Tonight

I am going to be back at my parents house tonight. I’m trying to be optimistic and keep my head together but there are a couple of things going on at work that are seriously getting under my skin. I’m trying to be helpful but it’s just not working. I don’t know why or how, I just know that I’m about to take a nutty off the deep end of life.

I’m trying to eat my lunch but the universe just won’t let me. To make matters worse, I just dropped a pretzel on the floor. What a sad waste of a delicious snack food.

Oh, and the Red Sox are playing the Yankees right now and the Yankees are up 2-0 after two innings. Yippee.

On the up side, another small step toward a solution to the parent health care problem is scheduled to happen later today. It’ll be wrapped up before I get there so I will be sending red head vibes and crossed fingers from home.

I don’t want to be in a perpetual state of freak out, or an endless state of annoyed. I just want things to be manageable, you know?

Okay, I am going to finish my lunch now. Wish me luck.