Tag: MLB

The Red Sox are Playoff Bound

I missed the game last night and do I regret it or what! Lackey took a no hitter into the seventh, and then ended up winning 3-1 in a complete game that clinched a wild card spot for the Sox. We are now officially playoff bound.

The magic number for the AL East is now one game, thanks to the combination of the Red Sox winning and the Rays losing last night. Our team could be celebrating a division win tonight if they beat the Blue Jays. Either way, one Red Sox win or Rays loss and we are the AL East champs.

After last season’s schmucko the clown nightmare coming on the heels of the chicken and beer flavored collapse in 2011, none of us thought this team had a chance. I was optimistic that they might finish the season at about .500. I would have been satisfied with that.

Now? It’s World Series or bust at this point. They have become an elite team in major league baseball. They have four pitchers who can match up with almost anyone in the game. They have an offense that can hit off anyone. They have turned into one hell of a baseball team. There is no reason they cannot win it all this year. Detroit will probably still end up being the favorite to win the American League, but it’s got to be a close call. I believe these Red Sox are up to the challenge.

Just wrap up the division tonight and get on with the playoffs!

What is Almost as Good as Clinching the Division?

Want to know what makes a Red Sox fan feel almost as good as clinching the division?

Eliminating the Yankees.

The magic number for the American League East division is down to four, and the win over the Yankees last night mathematically eliminated New York from the division race. They are still in the wild card race, but losing six out of seven games to Boston over just the last 11 days has gone a long way toward putting a fork into them.

A few weeks ago I wrote a bit about which teams in the wild card race I wanted to see get into the playoffs. I have to tweak that a little now. I had said I wanted to see Oakland get in, but they have since taken over their division and built up a happy lead. As of now, the Rangers and the Rays are tied in the wild card race with Cleveland only half a game behind. Next comes Baltimore, 2.5 games out, and the Yankees are three games out. The last team with any prayer of getting in is the Royals, 3.5 games back.

I’m still rooting for the Royals to steal their way in, but it’s seeming less likely. I’d really like to see both Texas and Tampa Bay get knocked out. Obviously I want the Yankees eliminated both for Boston reasons, and for Alex Rodriguez reasons (although he left last night’s game with an injury). Baltimore is another AL East team, and if it’s possible I’d like to see the Red Sox be the only eastern team to get into the post season. That pretty much makes me a fan of Cleveland and Kansas City down the stretch.

Honestly though it doesn’t really matter to me who makes it into the playoffs, so long as they all lose to the Red Sox. That’s all I really care about.

Friday the 13th and the Red Sox

When I woke up on Thursday September 12, 2013 the Boston Red Sox were in first place in the American League East Division with a magic number of eight.

When I woke up on Friday September 13, 2013 the Boston Red Sox were still in first place in the American League East Division with a magic number of eight.

Why is it that yesterday that magic number seemed tiny and all but a given (not actually a given, this is Boston after all), but today it seems massive. Eight seems gigantic, like the black hole at the center of the Milky Way gigantic. Like unimaginably vast and infinite.

That, dear Internet, is the perfect description of what it means to be a Boston sports fan. Yesterday morning they were coming off a win and all was right with the world. Today they are coming off a loss and it’s nothing but doom and gloom and horror and terror. Sure, the fact that it’s Friday the 13th and I live in a house with a black cat might be having some influence on my thinking today, but mostly it’s just a typical Boston sports fan kinda thing.

Go Red Sox. Please.

Eight

After careful calculations I have deduced that the Red Sox magic number is now down to eight. It was 10 yesterday, and the Sox beat the Rays last night on a freakin pinch hit grand slam in the 10th by Mike Carp. So 10 minus one for the Sox win, minus one for the Rays loss equals eight. I might need a calculator to double check that equation. It’s been a while since I did any Algebra.

I didn’t listen to the game last night but I had the MLB app’s gamecast on for most of it. I saw Tampa tie it in the eighth, I believe it was, and shut it off so I could try and sleep (didn’t work) after the Sox failed to score in the ninth.

When I checked the score this morning… Pinch grand slam in the 10th. It’s like a cliche of an elementary school kid’s baseball daydream. I need to check if it was a full count too.

Typical Red Sox win. Close game, lose a lead late, win in sports center highlight show worthy dramatic fashion. This team is really fun to watch.

Go Red Sox!

Red Sox Magic

Is anyone else completely over the moon about the Red Sox right now? They took two of three from Detroit and followed it with three straight against the Yankees. They can complete the Bronx sweep tomorrow afternoon. It’s been so much fun over the last week that I can’t wait for the next game. We are seven days into September and thus far we are collapse free. Keep it up!

Go Red Sox!

Red Sox / Yankees

Is there anything better than Red Sox vs Yankees baseball?

Sox down 8-4 in the seventh inning. Full count, two outs, bases loaded. Napoli lifts one into right field that just barely squeaks its way into the seats.

Grand Slam.
Tie game.

Go Red Sox!

A-Rod

The boom was lowered yesterday. 12 Major League Baseball players were given 50 game suspensions for using performance enhancing drugs. Alex Rodriguez was given a 211 game suspension for using PEDs and for hindering the league’s investigation of the clinic, Biogenesis, responsible for these 13 players (14 when you include Ryan Braun) cheating. There is also talk that he recruited other players to Biogenesis and if so that might be a factor. Only A-Rod is appealing. He is the highest paid player in the sport’s history and he will lose about three times my annual salary per game when the suspension starts. He is allowed to play while the case is under appeal.

211 games amounts to the rest of this season and all of next season. A-Rod is 38 years old. Two years out of the game at this point probably means his career ends when the suspension starts. Good. I want him gone. It’s bad enough that cheating is still rampant in Major League Baseball, but the idea of it’s highest paid player pushing dope to other players is beyond evil. He joins Barry Bonds as the poster children for scum in baseball. Even a gambler on a lifetime ban like Peter Rose can feel comfortable looking down his nose at a jerk like A-Rod.

I feel anger toward every player who gets caught cheating. I don’t look at the two recent Red Sox World Series wins in quite the rosey way I used to now that I know that Manny Ramirez and (probably) David Ortiz were using. It has taken a great deal of fun out of the game of Baseball for me. Still, when players are straight with us I am willing to put it behind me. Ryan Braun will probably be the exception after the way he handled his failed test. Now he’s all apologetic, but for you it’s too little too late. The other 12 players who took their punishment yesterday will come back and all will be right again, assuming they stay off of the crap.

Rodriguez though, like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens before him, is dead to me. He’s taking money over integrity. Cash over self respect. The hell with him. I hope his appeal is denied and he never plays another game. Even though he was a Yankee and a member of the Evil Empire, I once thought of him as the guy who would erase Barry Bonds from the all time home run record book. Sure he comes off like a putz in the personality department, but he’s the best player in the game. If anyone can topple that juiced up cheater Bonds it’s A-Rod. Not anymore. Bonds… Rodriguez… One in the same. I hope they both go away and never come back.

Oh Yeah, the Red Sox

You know something? I pretty much forgot about the Red Sox. That other Boston team’s run to blowing the Stanley Cup first occupied all of my sports watching time and energy, and then after the choke I was too depressed to enjoy any athletic event other than watching tiny birds.

The all-star break is over. Yay. Goodbye to the dumbest scrimmage game of the year. But as the second half of the season kicks off tonight, the Red Sox find themselves in first place in the American League East with the highest winning percentage in all of the American League, and the most wins in the majors. So this is what happens when schmucko the clown gets the sack? Works for me.

As of this moment, I officially dedicate myself to paying a lot more attention to my home town team. It starts with a series against the fourth place (4th place) New York Yankees at Fenway tonight. Nothing would be sweeter than kicking off the second half of the season with a hearty sweep of the Yankees. That would please my baseball fan self to no end.

Go Red Sox!