What's Wrong With Baseball These Days?

I'll make a list:

1) I am in 10th place in my league in the ESPN Baseball Challenge. While tenth sounds good when there are dozens of people in the league, in this case, I'm tenth out of twelve. And I am actually trying, whereas the guys currently in the eleven and twelve slots gave up. Or else they are sitting back to see if they can beat me without changing a single player all season. (Give it up, Geralyn Dawson. It won't work.)

I cannot choose a pitching staff to save my soul. What was with the Twins last night? And how did I get so lucky as to pick the Giants on the one night Tim Lincecum blows it big? Apparently, I have a knack for these picks. If the Tigers' pitching staff flails in both games of their doubleheader today, you'll know you should take me to Vegas with you and bet the opposite of everything I do.

2) The Texas Rangers took two out of three from the Red Sox this weekend. I had to sit in the rain to watch the first loss, and man, was it painful. (Geralyn is now laughing at me, as she is also a Rangers fan.)

3) The Colorado Rockies were so stupid as to fire one of my all-time fave managers, Clint Hurdle. I guess the guys who fired him forgot that, OH YEAH, they traded away Matt Holliday. And OH YEAH, Jeff Francis has been hurt all year. Maybe, just maybe, the Rockies will have trouble winning games in that situation. (Geralyn is not to blame for any of this. I don't think Hurdle should be blamed, either.)

Do the guys who fired Hurdle remember this?



That would be the World Series. And that would be Clint Hurdle on the right, leading the team. Yes, the Rockies lost to the Red Sox (I was screwed on that one...one of my fave teams was going to lose either way!) But the fact the Rockies made it at all was due in large part to...well, you know who. The Rockies were suckin' wind that year, but came back to win 20 of their last 21 games.

I'll feel better about baseball tomorrow. (Especially if the Tigers' pitching staff does well, or if someone hires Hurdle.) In the meantime, I think I'll console myself by reading a good book.

Maybe I'll make it one of Geralyn's. At least I know it'll be good!

Dual Citizenship at Game One

First off, yes, I realize I should have posted this immediately following the game. However, immediately following the game I had to hustle home, get ONE HOUR of sleep, grab my suitcase, then drive back past Fenway to get to the airport to fly to Seattle. So I'm a little pokey on posting.

HOWEVER...I had a FABULOUS time at game one, despite the blowout (which is not so fun, no matter which team you want to win. Blowouts suck.)

I got to Fenway just as the gates opened. Instead of going in, however, I decided to walk down Lansdowne Street to the studio of WEEI Sports Radio to catch the pregame show. Glenn Ordway was taking calls, and of course everyone was talking about how the Rockies stink and the Red Sox are perfect. There wasn't a Rockies fan to be seen on the street.

I had on a black pullover, so I took my Rockies cap out of my backpack and put it on. Just because. As much as I'm a Red Sox fan, I thought the conversation was a bit one-sided.

Well, Ordway stopped the caller, pointed at me out the window, and said, "Wait a minute! I think we have Miss Colorado out here! She's actually wearing a Rockies hat!" (I'm telling you, there were NO other Rockies fans in sight. I was taking my life into my hands.) Ordway said something else about me maybe being on his flight to Denver on Saturday, and something about how he couldn't stop the show to do _____? I couldn't hear what he said, because the people around me were booing my hat. (Little do they know I'm also a Sox fan.) Wish I knew what he'd said!

After watching for a while longer, I decided to go around to Yawkey Way and see what was happening inside the park. As I went through the turnstile, Larry Lucchino shook my hand and welcomed me to Fenway Park. Must say, I felt really, really wrong shaking his hand while wearing a Rockies hat.

Once inside, I made my way past the Rockies' dugout to stand behind the Fox broadcast platform, just down the third base line. Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Eric Byrnes was broadcasting alongside Kevin Kennedy and the rest of the Fox News anchors. But check out Eric's shoes:



Yep, he was wearing ripped up jeans and Vans. They were giving him a hard time pre-broadcast, and I loved every minute of it.

I counted a grand total of eight Rockies fans inside the ballpark (this was my count during the entire game), but one--who'd flown in from Denver--was down watching the Fox broadcast with me. I took a picture of him with his friend (a Red Sox fan), then he took a picture of me, just so I could prove I was there. (Plus, I doubt any Sox fans would have been willing to take my picture.)



The Rockies were catching balls in the outfield if they weren't in the batter's box. My next future husband, Matt Holliday (after Jacoby Ellsbury...but there's a whole 'nuther blog on that) was chatting with Brad Hawpe and Troy Tulowitzki as they fielded balls.



When it was Holliday's turn to bat, he walked my direction, saw my hat, and gave me a huge grin and a wave when I gave him a thumbs up (remember...the stands were a solid blanket of red-hatted fans, so I stood out.) I called my husband to let him know my Series was officially complete, because Holliday smiled at me. I suspect it was yet another moment he regretted giving me his ticket.

I watched Holliday take batting practice, made my way through the crowd (with much heckling), got a high five from Wally, the Green Monster, then hid in a bathroom stall (I know where the clean ones are located) to change into a red long-sleeved shirt, a Manny Ramirez jersey, and Red Sox hat. Before heading to my seat, I did pin a Colorado flag to the top.

I think I represented my home state well (hey, the Big O called me Miss Colorado on the air!) But at Fenway, after 8 pm, I was once again a member of Red Sox Nation. I got back to my seat just in time for team introductions. Took this shot of the lineup, but hate to guess what Manny Corpas was thinking here:



The shot of my two favorite managers, Terry Francona (best thing ever to happen to the Red Sox) and Clint Hurdle was better:



John Williams and the Boston Pops did the Star Spangled Banner, the first pitch was thrown by Yaz and the rest of the '67 Red Sox, and we were underway!



Josh Beckett threw a fantastic game, as everyone knew he would. Even Matt Holliday struck out in the first. (Sadly, I took a picture of that, too.)



Jeff Francis, unfortunately, had one of his worst outings of the year. Bummer, because I wanted both teams to play to the level of which they're capable. And I wanted to see how the Sox handled Francis when he pitched his best.

In the end, it was a 13-1 blowout (game two was much more balanced, with a final score of 2-1, in favor of the Red Sox, thanks to great pitching by Jonathan Papelbon and the super-cool, always underrated Hideki Okajima.)

On the way out, I spotted the coolest hat in the park...it has Fenway Park, the Green Monster, and the Citgo sign on top, and helmets of all the AL teams around the outside:



Now that's a fan!

The Dangers of Salad Dressing

I spent the last forty-five minutes or so sweeping out and then vacuuming my garage. I'm a neat freak (as you may know from past blog posts) but not to the extent that I vacuum my garage. The only garages that should be vacuumed are those that are more like car museums (think Jay Leno, Oprah Winfrey.) My garage is of the standard cement-floor, stuffed-with-sports-equipment variety. Worthy of the occasional broom cleaning, but not vacuuming. Not until this morning.

Tip: When taking salad dressing bottles to the recycling bin in the garage, be careful not to drop them. The glass goes EVERYWHERE. Under the car, into shoes, you name it. I managed to drop not one, but two glass bottles. I swept out the glass the best I could, then vacuumed. I got most of it before I backed out the car (thinking, please, please, do not let me have missed any glass under the tires) then swept and vacuumed some more.

So much for saving time by carrying as many bottles and cans as possible.

I suspect it's because last night I uttered a sentence that's never before passed my lips. I actually said, "Both the Rockies and the Red Sox won their playoff games!" Jeff Francis had an outstanding outing against the Phillies and the Red Sox pitcher, Josh Beckett, threw a shutout against the Angels.



It's giving me a spooky feeling, like something really, really bad is about to happen...I'm not used to having both my teams win, let alone win in the playoffs.

Wonder if this means I'm going to end up with flat tires tomorrow, thanks to the glass in the garage? Something's gotta give.

On another baseball topic: For those who're interested in the finances behind professional sports, I came across this article on CNN Money about how much teams stand to lose financially when their teams are expected to make the playoffs, but don't. Somehow, I doubt Mets ticket sales drop off drastically in 2008. Mets fans are die-hards.