A Live Blog to Ward Off The Demons!

And, no, I’m not talking about anyone who has commented here!  🙂  (The name of this painting, by the way, is "A New Beginning" by the artist Larry Dy ke)

I’ll admit, I’m as nervous as  my cat when 4 year old Madison comes to visit.  I want Pauley to do well and I think he can – but I’m worried about what it could do to him if he doesn’t.

SO…the get the back taste of all the nastiness around here these last twenty-four hours (including from me)…I’m live blogging.  Be prepared for Jake Gyllenhaal references, pictures of sloths and the like…(and yes, I’ll be referring to Posada as "Sid the Sloth"…I have admitted this hypocrisy earlier and retract any indignation I had against the names Yankees fans call Big Papi…have at it!).

Jermaine Van Buren got sent down and my boy Craig Hansen has been brought up.  I am quite happy with this move.  My understanding is he is in New York tonight and will most likely pitch.  I am very excited about this!

I don’t think I’ve ever live blogged a game that I’m so anxious over.  It should be an interesting night!

7:00 – Don Orsillo just said last night was "a tough beginning to the series".  I think Don Orsillo is the king of the understatement.

7:05 – I love "The Star Spangled Banner" done without singing!  Very cool.

7:08 – Whenever I see the name "Rodriguez" I flash back on "WKRP in Cincinnati".  Chi Chi Rodriguez (pronounced by Les Nessman as "Cheye Cheye Rodrigweez")

7:09 – Has any Yankees player ever dared not respond when the bleacher creatures chanted their name?  That would be pretty funny.

7:10 – As Coco gets out the "Boston S*cks" chant wafts through Yankee Stadium. 

7:13 – And as I delete comments, Mark Loretta gets a base hit!

7:15 – Papi strikes out and Yankee Stadium cheers louder than it does for it’s own guys.  🙂

7:17 – NESN showed Wang warming up earlier today in ‘street clothes’.  He looks much younger in uniform than he does in civies.

7:18 – Admittedly, 50,000 people groaning because of a possible bad call sounds pretty cool.

7:18b – Balk?  Where was the balk?  Wait, they’re going to show me.  WOW that was so…the balk rule has to be confusing to some pitchers.  I barely saw movement…how the ump saw it is beyond me. 

7:19 – Manny walks so the balk is  no big deal.  Trot’s up.  0-7 v Wang.  Ah, that  inspires hope.

7:21 – And…Trot makes out number 3.  Didn’t see that coming. 

7:22 – Now we get to see whether or not David Pauley can handle the pressure.  Remember my ‘prayer’ earlier today?  It was meant to be funny, but if I can elicit ANYTHING out of God for this game, it wouldn’t necessarily be a win, just that Paulie doesn’t have all the enthusiasm for this game s*cked out of him tonight.

7:24 – Johnny Demon bunts for a single.  Nice one, actually.  The PA system blares "Johnny B Goode".  I’m pretty sure if your ballpark’s PA system is so loud that you can clearly make out what music it is playing – and it is drowning out the television announcers…well then your music is a wee bit too loud, folks.

7:26 – Alex Cora gets the double play.  Have a seat Johnny and Melky.

7:26b – I loves  me the shift.  HGHiambi takes a seat.  Nice first inning, David.

7:30 – One out and Mr. Double (who was two for two last night) is up.  Nixon had a good night last night too.  They deserve some credit because the score makes it seem like the entire team went to sleep, which certainly wasn’t the case.

7:31 – Miguel Cairo drops the ball.  Base hit for Mike Lowell.  Remy mentions that this is a play, "…Jeter makes so well…"

7:32 – Just showed a close-up of Captain Intangibles’ thumb.  It’s in some kind of stint…hmmm

7:35 – Like RemDawg, I’m a bit surprised Bernie didn’t catch that ball.  Youk on first, Lowell on second, Alex Cora up.

7:36 – I just noticed that Mark has highlighted my ‘prayer’ post on the front page of MLBlogs.  He’s a spitfire, that Mark is!

7:36b – Alex Cora’s name is too short to make up a cute nickname.  Remember when they used to call Nomar, ‘Garciapopup"?  Yeah, that’s what happened.

7:37 – Coco gets a chance to make amends for not scoring in the first inning.  Come on, guys, this Pauley kid needs some runs to work with!

7:40 – I have the song "Do You Hear the People Sing?" (from "Les Miserables") running through my mind.  Can’t imagine why.

7:41 – Remy thinks Coco’s foot might be hurting still from fouling a ball off it earlier in this at-bat.  That’ll p1ss me off.  He also thinks the league should start Yankees/Sox games two hours earlier than the usual starting time.  He hates long games. 

7:42 – That was a longass at-bat to end with a pop-up, Coco. 

7:44 – Pauley has ARod to start the second inning.  Don Orsillo tells me that David threw a six pitch first inning.  Let’s keep that going, skippy.

7:45 – David Pauley just strike out Alex Rodriguez (swinging).  I’d say that’s a great way to gain some confidence.

7:46 – Sid is up.

7:47 – Sid is on first.

7:47b – Pauley has his name on his glove.  His entire name:  "David Pauley".  How freaking cute is that?

7:48 – And this is where it can get ugly.  Cano on first, Sid on second…we need another double play to calm this kid down, guys.

7:49 – Remy says "A lot of Yankees fans are excited about the young players"…like they have a choice, RemDawg?

7:49 Who at  NESN thought it would be a good idea to use the second inning to remind us what happened LAST night in the second inning?

7:50 – Andy Phillips is up.  He and Melky Cabrera don’t really bug me.  Guess they haven’t been infested with "Yankee" yet.  (these are the jokes, folks!)  Andy Phillips is now down.

7:52 –  Pauley has a full count on Bernie.  Come on, David, he’s old enough to date your mom!

7:53 – Old Man Williams grounds into an out.  No score with two behind us.

7:57 – Big Papi does his thing and the Sox lead 1-0.  The sound at Yankee Stadium is odd…I thought I’d hear more boos.  There are certainly boos, but not like I expected. 

7:58 – Manny looks like he wants to back to back it.  Let’s do it, Manny!  Let’s do it for Johnny!  (Er, David)

8:00 – Manny!  A hit! I’ll take it, baby!

8:01 – Come on, Trot…let’s try to make little David more comfortable.

8:03 – Well, that was an interesting double play.

8:06 – Wow.  Just wow.  Cairo smashed that ball.  Luckily it went foul.  Flashing back to when Manny stole that home run from Cairo and he ran the bases thinking he got it.  Good times.

8:07 – Cairo gets a hit.  It’s interesting watching Pauley’s reactions.  Crisp catches Johnny’s ‘hit’ for the first out.  Pauley looks a little more relaxed than I expected.

8:08 – Throw the kid a bone, Melky.  Hit into a double play.

8:09 – There is a Craig Hansen sighting.  And I’m a teenage girl for a minute.

8:10 – Full count, HGHiambi waiting in the wings. 

8:11 – Melky sits down, Cairo to second.  You can get this guy out, David.

8:12 – HGHiambi ends the third inning.  Still 1-0 Boston.

8:15 – I wonder if the guys who played with Johnny want to spit at him when he makes a catch off them?  🙂

8:16 – Quick two outs.

8:17 – That was nice.

8:21 – ARod gets an out but Sid gets a double.  Not nice.

8:24 – Woo-hoo, second strike out to end the inning!  So far, so good, David!

8:28 – More runs, boys.  We need more runs.

8:29 – Cairo bobbles another one.  Thanks, Miguel.  Coco is on first with 1 down.

8:31 – Double play.  Ugh.

8:36 – Bernie hits a homerun…score is tied.  Remember those runs I said we needed?

8:37 – Demon is up again with one out.

8:38 – Pauley still looks pretty calm.  It’s interesting.  He was a mess in Toronto, not so much in New York.

8:39 – Demon is out.  Let’s get out of this inning, boys.

8:41 – Nice, niiice.  More runs, people!

8:44 – Is that a foul ball?  Didn’t it hit Manny’s bat? 

8:46 – Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy are riffing on it being 6/6/6.  They crack me up.

8:47 – Manny, you’re killing me.  Killing me.  Did you forget that you don’t run well?  It was a routine single.  Seriously, dude, what the hell are you thinking?  Giving Johnny his first assist.  For the love of Mike, man!

8:48 – Some genius is on the field.  Sometimes I hate the fans.  Hope it was a Red Sox fan only because I can’t imagine a home team fan being stupid enough to break their pitcher’s concentration.

8:49 – End of the inning.  Thanks a pantload, Manny.

8:55 – Come on, David – you got him out twice already, you can do it again.

8:56 – SWEET throw from Mike Lowell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Two outs.

8:57 – Sid the Sloth strikes again.  Here’s a question.  When people start talking about all the injuries with the Yankees and then talking about the ‘stars’ left on the team…why do they leave off Posada?  To me, he’s one of the most consistent players on that team, year after year.  He doesn’t seem to get the love the other players get.  I’ve never understood that.

8:59 – Nice.  Six finished and the score is tied.  Say it with me Red Sox Nation:  WE NEED MORE RUNS, FELLAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

9:02 – Reading the comments, I see I missed Bernie’s curtain call.  With every curtain call a Yankee takes, they cheapen the whole idea behind it.  You just tied the game, Bernie.  You hit a homerun off a pitcher who only pitched one other game in the major leagues and got hammered in that outing.  Congrats.  You so deserve a curtain call. 

9:03 – Bernie Williams messes up again in the outfield.  Yeah, take a curtain call for that, Bernie.

9:06 – Greek God of Walks gets another.  Alex Cora, a Nation turns to you to help give Mr. Pauley his first major league win.

9:08 – Or not.

9:11 – Oh PLEASE let us get deep enough in this inning to have Torre bring in Meyers to pitch to Papi.

9:11b – Again, or not.

9:14 – Tito brings Pauley out in the seventh.  I’m actually pleased with this.  Let’s see what he can do.  (And get him the he11 out of there at the first sign of trouble!)

9:17 – One out.  Good way to start the inning.  Bernie’s up.  What’s the over/under on his taking another curtain call if he hits a homerun?

9:18 – What?  No curtain call for flying out to right field?

9:19 – What the heck was that?  See, this is what happens when you don’t let the infielder handle the ball, David. 

9:20 – Chill out, David…one more out, baby.

9:21 – Anyone who didn’t think that Demon was going to get a hit, raise your hand.  Liar.

9:22 – I don’t want to see Pauley pulled before the end of the inning.  But I’d rather see him get another no-decision than a loss.

9:23 – They are playing Mike Timlin’s music at Yankee Stadium.  I know this because it sounds like it’s being pumped through NESN’s microphones.

9:23b – Kid obviously rattled himself.  Can we get him out of there now?

9:24 – Although, Rudy Seanez with the bases loaded doesn’t make me happy.  Couldn’t take him out after the first baserunner, eh Tito?

9:24b – Yankees fans can say whatever they want, the kid handled their team extremely well tonight.  Good job, David.  Let’s hope Rudy can shut down HGHiambi.

9:26 – I honestly don’t know if I can watch this.

9:29 – Pauley deserves much better.  They better come back and win this for him.

9:30 – Someone needs to tell Wang that he’s winning.  He looks like he’s going to cry.

9:31 – Slappy is so clutch, isn’t he?

9:34 – Why is Farnsworth in?  I hate managers.  (I say that as a baseball fan…as a Red Sox fan it’s nice to get a fresh pitcher.  Especially Farnsworth.)

9:35 – Who thinks Slappy would rather wet himself on national television than do that Jeter-dive into the stands?

9:36 – Come on, Papi.  Good time to go back to back with Manny.

9:37 – Or you could strike out on a 98 MPH fastball.

9:38 – I no longer like Melky Cabrera.  (Beautiful catch, though)

9:39 – They can’t lose this game.  How unfair is this to David Pauley?

9:42 – So Rudy Seanez’s evil plan is to throw as many ‘balls’ as possible, eh?

9:43 – How did he get a full count?  Holy cow…he struck out Sid.

9:44 – Does Cano have a hitting streak going?  (game-wise)  It seems to me that every time I notice he’s up (not just against the Sox) he seems to get a hit.

9:45 – Rudy Seanez has two outs.  Two strikeouts this inning.  Let’s make it 3 for the inning.

9:46 – One last chance to salvage this game.  My stomach is in a knot.

9:47 – Regardless of the outcome, I’m awfully proud of David Pauley.  He certainly pitched like a big-leaguer today. 

9:48 – Program note for Sox fans with the Extra Innings package – Pedro pitches against DLowe at 10:10 tonight. 

9:48 – NESN’s feed just went black.  6.6.6 indeed.

9:50 – Trot’s out quickly, leaving it up to Tek and Lowell.

9:51 – I am one of those people who doesn’t give up hope until the last out.  But Rivera has two outs on three pitches.  I mean come ON guys, you could at least try.

9:52 – Mike Lowell is up.  He’s Pauley’s last chance to have this game  not remembered as a failure for him.

9:52b – Dam.  Yanks win.  Puts them up 1.5 game.  It’s really too bad that they lost on a bases loaded walk.  But at least no chest-thumping tonight from Yanks fans.  They were given a gift.

9:53 – This one upsets me more than last night’s.  Not for the setback in the standings, but for Pauley.  Kid pitched his heart out…he truly did deserve better.

Thanks for coming by folks.  Oh well, we’ll get them tomorrow!

Good  night, all.