Category: Baseball

Red Sox Fail

The Red Sox played the annual Patriots Day/Boston Marathon Monday 11:00am game today. Morning baseball, everyone!

I always enjoy listening to the Marathon Monday game on the radio while I’m at work. I don’t know why, it’s just something I particularly like to do. Today’s game was tough for a bunch of reasons. I had a whole pile of meetings on my calendar, but there were breaks during game time so it was okay. In the end the Red Sox lost to Cleveland. It was close through most of the game but once The Guardians started hitting it was painful. Lots of defensive screw ups for the Red Sox, including two players crashing into each other hard enough to draw blood. Ouch.

Those aren’t the worst parts of the game though. The worst part was the radio broadcast. As soon as I logged onto the MLB app and brought up the audio I wanted to yell at WEEI and shut it off. I didn’t, but I should have. The radio announcing team included Sean McDonough. I fucking hate Sean McDonough. He used to do Red Sox TV broadcasts years and years ago (before getting the job doing Monday Night Football? Was that really a thing?) and he sucked to high heaven. I hated every single syllable that came out of his asshole of a mouth. Ugh, I fucking hate that guy! I’d rather listen to a baby crying at 100 decibels for three hours than listen to that prick call a game.

I listened to the game though. I didn’t let that butt munch ruin my Patriots Day. Screw that guy. The team losing was just fitting though. Yeah, screw that guy.

Haiku for You #178

On Patriots Day in Massachusetts, the Boston Red Sox play a morning game, which starts at 11:00am. It’s timed so that the fans will exit Fenway Park just about the same time the Boston Marathon reaches Kenmore Square. It’s a great little mini-tradition, and I always enjoy listening to the Sox game on the radio while I work.

Today’s haiku for you is the story of how WEEI and the Red Sox ruined it for me today.

Turn on the Sox game
and hear Sean McDonough’s voice.
Fucking hate that guy.

Sunday Afternoon

Not much going on this afternoon. Jen and I had lunch together. Then she went to her computer to do some work and I did some chores around the house. I watched some TV… I finished season seven of the X-Files which means I have reached the (mostly) Mulder-free seasons eight and nine. The next 40 or so episodes are going to be tough.

I didn’t do any additional practicing, but I am packed up and ready to go to Lizardfish Mark II practice later tonight.

Everything I need is already at Mike the Bass Player’s house (except for a guitar), but the back pack has some emergency, just-in-case gear… just in case, you know? Some cables, some strings, some batteries, a couple of nasty overdrive pedals. Just in case. There’s a mic and some XLR cables too, but I don’t think we’ll be singing much today. Who knows.

It’s time to go help Jen cook dinner. The Red Sox have a 5-2 lead over the Angels in the top of the eighth. The Angels just had a lead off triple though. Is the collapse starting? We’ll see.

I Don’t Hate It

The Gibson Theodore… a lot of people hate it. I… I guess I… I guess I don’t hate it. I sure don’t love it, but I don’t think I hate it. I almost think it’s cool.

I’ll embed a video below that goes into depth, but the deal is that a few years ago Gibson unearthed a guitar design that was unused back in the golden era of the 1950’s and did a short, very expensive, run out of their custom shop. Recently they released a standard production model that is also grossly expensive, but a whole lot less expensive than the original version.

Yeah the body shape is kinda dumb. I liked the custom shop’s use of P90 pickups rather than the USA version’s use of humbuckers. I like the four knobs on the custom shop over the two master controls on the USA. I very much greatly prefer the bridge on the USA version.

I don’t know. Like I said, I don’t love it but I don’t really hate it. Weird, huh?

Change of subject: unrelated, both the Bruins and the Red Sox won today. The Red Sox snapped a really ugly four game losing streak. The Bruins… I think… clinched the Atlantic Division title… I think… didn’t they? No… did they? I knew they needed a win over Pittsburgh tonight, but I can’t remember if it was a win OR a Florida Panthers loss would clinch things, or was it a win AND a Panthers loss? Also, did the Panthers need to lose, or lose in regulation? I don’t remember. The Bruins won in regulation and the Panthers won in overtime. I guess I’ll find out the answer to this question in the morning. Whatevs, both of my teams won today. Happiness.

Back to the main topic. Where does the Theodore sit on my Gibson Guitar I-Want-One list?

  • Les Paul Junior
  • Les Paul Standard 50’s with P90 pickups
  • Firebird, but not a studio. I want the Firebird mini-humbuckers, not standard humbuckers
  • Les Paul Deluxe
  • Insert the Theodore here? Maybe.
  • Les Paul Special, or SG Special, or SG Junior
  • ES-330

Damn… that’s a long list. It’s also an insanely expensive list. Come on, Gibson USA. Help a brother out. Bring those prices down. I don’t want to start thinking about Epiphones. I’m a Gibson snob after all.

Baseball Blues

The Red Sox had a great road trip to start the season, but was it just an illusion? Would the team we expected to suck come back to us when they came home?

Looks that way.

The looked pretty bad in their opener yesterday. Tonight they had a 5-0 lead when I stopped watching. I just checked the score… they are down 7-5 in the eighth.

Yup, it’s gonna be a long season.

Happy Home Opening Day

Finally

Today at a little after 2:00pm Eastern Daylight Savings time, the Boston Red Sox will play a home game.

Finally.

Happy Fenway Opening Day, everyone. Happy we finally will have a string of games we can actually watch on TV or listen to on the radio without sacrificing an entire night’s worth of sleep.

Finally.

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2008-07-27 Yankees at Red Sox 218
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The pictures are old because I haven’t been to Fenway Park in about a decade. Maybe I’ll sneak to a game this year. Maybe I’ll grab a standing room only ticket to some random night game. Standing room only, of course, because Fenway Park is not friendly to tall people. Leg room apparently wasn’t a thing in 1912 when the park first opened.

Season On

Okay, I lied. I’ve watched a few pitches of the season opener.

Red Sox at Mariners. No score in the top of the third inning.

Happy opening day, America.

ADDENDUM: Dever’s hit a two run homer just after I published this post. The Red Sox are now up 2-0 in the top of the third. Nice.

Happy Opening Day, I Guess

Today is opening day for Major League Baseball (excluding two teams that played a game overseas somewhere? Do I have that info correct?).

Today should really be a national holiday in the United States, even though Boston Red Sox fans, like me, get royally screwed.

Game one for the Red Sox is in Seattle. The local start time in Seattle is 7:00pm. That’s fine for them, but Boston is on the opposite coast and there is a three hour time difference. Start time for us here in New England is 10:00pm. There is zero chance of me staying up to watch even one pitch of tonight’s game.

Thanks for nothing, MLB schedule makers. We don’t get a game at a watchable start time until Sunday. That’s game four for the season. Sunday is an afternoon game in Seattle, starting at 1:00pm Pacific time, which is 4:00pm Eastern time. That would be nice except that it’s also easter Sunday and we’re having dinner with my father at 4:30… so I won’t be watching that game either. What a pain in the ass?

So MLB, how about a rule that says all opening day series must be played in both teams’ local time zones. You know, so the fans can actually watch the friggin’ games. Not that MLB gives the faintest shit about the fans. Just look at the start times for playoff games. They all start too late for normal people to watch the whole game, and heaven forbid a kid should want to watch a playoff game. No way.

Thanks for nothing, assholes.

Hockey is Stressful for Me

I knew the Boston Bruins had a game today but I didn’t realize until the last possible moment that it was a 1:00 game. I took a vacation day today without realizing that it was an actual holiday (not one that I get off, but still a holiday) and the Bruins often play day games on holidays. Nice!

I watched the first period while eating my lunch. The period ended with the score tied at one. As the second period was starting I was going to write a quick post about how the Bruins have been bad since the all star break and they didn’t look all that great today. They haven’t been bad, it’s just Dallas has been better. Right as I was opening my laptop to write the post Dallas scored to take a 2-1 lead. Damn it! I don’t want to write a hockey post now. Blah. Just as I had made that decision, Boston scored to tie the game at two. WOOHOO! Go Bruins!

The mood swings I feel while watching hockey are unprecedented in human existence. I have similar mood swings when I watch baseball games, but the nature of the game is different and they are much less intense. The playoffs are close, but the chances of the Red Sox making the playoffs any time soon are too slim for that to be a consideration.

Let’s go, Bruins. Let’s get back to those pre-all star break winning ways, shall we? M’kay?