The “Post-All Star voting, Pre-Fourth of July, I’m tired so I’m blogging” live blog

Devilrays_1I spent the day in and out of the water and in the heat a lot.  I’m a winter baby, I like the cold so I can warm up…but the heat, not so much.  It wipes me out.  So I’m a little sleepy and hoping this live blog will help me stay up for the game.  The Sox don’t start until quarter past so I had the Yanks on long enough to watch Johnny get a hit against Cleveland and now I’m watching Hazel Mae interview Mark Loretta.  He’s such a good guy and he looks so genuinely happy about the All Star pick.  He just told Hazel Mae there were some ‘tears’ when Tito told him he was starting in Pittsburgh.  Now he’s talking about how well the team has played as a team.  Man, I just want to hug him!  He, like Mike Lowell, says that people wrote him off after last year and he’s showing them all how wrong they were (that last part is me, Loretta didn’t say it!).  He just said the best memory he’s had this first half WASN’T his walk-off homerun on Patriot’s Day, but Coco’s catch last week against the Mets.  This guy is a team player.  I’m so proud that the Red Sox fans got this man on the starting team in Pittsburgh!

Switching back to the Yanks now that NESN is at commercial…one out and Johnny on second.  I have to look this Sowers kid up at some point.  He looks young enough to be my kid.  πŸ™‚  (Okay, YES tells me he’s 23 so I’m relatively safe.  He still LOOKS like he’s 17!)

HGHiambi just hit a two-run homerun and is getting booed.  Wonder if he’ll take a curtain call?  I think he should.  A homerun in the first inning off a teenager is definitely the time for one, don’t you think?  I honestly ignore every homerun Giambi hits.  I don’t count them.  Someday, I have no doubt, MLB won’t count them either.Roco

7:13 – Game is on.  Charlie Reliford is the home plate umpire.  I can’t remember for certain, but isn’t he the ump who seems to always get hit, at least once a series, by a foul ball?

7:15 – Hey, Rocco Baldelli is playing tonight!  Feels like it has been years since I’ve seen him play.

7:17 – Kazmir gets two quick outs.  Same old, same old.

7:19 – Three up, three down for Kazmir.  Gonna be a looong night.

7:23 – Beckett has one out and one on thanks to Carl Crawford.  (I agree with RemDawg that Crawford should be going to Pittsburgh.)  The Santana infield is playing as well as Gabe the Babe filling in for Trot against the lefty. 

7:24 – Baldelli is up and looks exactly like he did a couple of year ago.  Nice way to save yourself from getting hit by the pitch, Rocco.

7:25 – A cranky Rocco is out on called strike three.  Welcome back, Baldelli!

7:26 – Aubrey Huff is probably my favorite Devil Ray.  He’s a dirt dog.  I don’t say that about many players who aren’t Red Sox.  As I think about how much I like him, Crawford steals second.  Ugh.

7:28 – Mark Loretta throws out Aubrey and leaves Crawford hanging at second!  0-0 end of 1.

7:30 – I love how NESN alternates between Kelly Clarkson’s Ford commercial and Taylor whatshisname’s commercial.  Like they’re daring you to choose which American Idol you like better.

7:32 – Manny is up and there is already talk about whether or not he’ll be at the All Star game.  RemDawg says Manny told him how proud he is that the fans voted him in again – but Manny has been complaining about his knee, saying "it’s tough to get old"…tell you what – I hope he doesn’t go.  Let him stay home and rest.  Heck, I’d be happy if all four guys elected did the same thing.

7:34 – I find that on any night when I am already tired before the game has started, I wonder how anyone could be a baseball fan when the game is so freaking slow!

7:37 – Kazmir pitches inside and  hits Mike Lowell on the leg.  Freaking ow.  Also, DAM!  Last thing we need is Mike Lowell hurt!  Don Orsillo says it’s the third time he’s been hit this season but only the second battrer Kazmir has hit.  Let’s hope it’s his last of the night.

Kap
7:40 – Baseball is a long game, isn’t it?  No score in the middle of the second.

7:44 – Gabe Kapler steals a few bases from Jorge Cantu with an amazing catch!  I LOVE THIS DEFENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!

7:47 – Nice little 1-2-3 action from Mr. Beckett.  No score after two.  I’m out of Red Bull so I’m having Sprite…which, I just realized, has no caffeine in it.

7:51 – Jerry Remy just went on a little tangent about Soler against the Yanks and how he isn’t really big league material.  Harsh stuff from the RemDawg.

7:53 – Alex Gonzalez comes through again.  First hit of the night for the boys.  He now has a 12-game hitting streak!

7:55 – Julio Lugo just turned an inning-ending double play into two men on with one out.

8:00 – Kazmir walks Papi to load the bases.  Manny has an 0-2 count.  Oh, the pitching duels.

8:01 – Manny leaves the bases loaded on a swinging strike.  And I get Taylor instead of Kelly selling me a Ford. OH and now I get the trailer for that "World Trade Center" movie that made me sob when I went to see "The DaVinci Code"…timing is everything.  Personally, I think it’s too early.  But I’ll probably think that in ten years as well.

8:05 – Ty Wigginton just slams one out of the park. 1-0 Tampa Bay in the third.

8:08 – Yo, Lo, Go, Lo, Va…Mi Infield!  Double play courtesy of Mark Loretta!

8:10 – Three outs – 1-9 Tampa Bay at the end of 3.

8:11 – I have no idea what is going on…but the Indians are up 3-2 in the third and there are many umpires having a ‘discussion’.  Someone in the Yankees dugout is a little cranky…who is that, Mazzili?  Men on second and third with two outs.  This is nice.

8:13 – Back in Florida, Jason Varitek is out…again.

8:14 – Mike Lowell is up.  Donnie O and RemDawg are still talking about Mark Loretta being in the All Star Game.

8:15 – Aflac trivia question:  Since 2004 which two pitchers have made the most starts versus the Red Sox?  Kazmir isn’t one of them.  I’m thinking Rodrigo Lopez and Roy Halladay.  But it’s really just guessing.

8:16 – Sox get out of the inning without getting so much as a hit off of Kazmir.

Aubrey
8:18 – Raymond is taunting Jerry Remy by using his (Remy’s) bobblehead as deodorant and then crushing it with his ATV.  Funny stuff.  Baldelli  makes his second out of the game.

8:19 – Oooh…I was going to guess Ted Lilly!  The answers are Rodrigo Lopez and Lilly at 12 starts a piece.

8:21 – Aubrey Huff  hits a double with one out.  Beckett doesn’t look horrible out there, but he’s definitely getting hit.

8:22 – MLBlogs own Jorge Cantu is up…and Beckett throws a wild pitch to advance Huff.

8:24 – The Devil Rays signed Cantu when he was 16.  I like Jorge, but that just screams of desperation to me.  Jorge walks.  We have guys at the corners with one out.  Double-play ball would be nice, Josh.

8:26 –  Just have to say, I love Mozilla Firefox.  Just started really using it.  Tried it other times but always fell back to Internet Explorer.  I’m digging the MO.  πŸ™‚

8:26b – Beckett to Gonzalez to Youkilis!  Exactly what we needed!  End of four, 1-0 Devil Rays.

8:30 – Two out, no on.  I’m adding more Tampa Bay pictures since the game was going better before I put Gabe’s pic in the mix!  πŸ™‚

8:31 – Hey, it worked!  Julio Lugo must get nervous around Kevin Youkilis.  Second error of the night…both involving Youk!  (Although RemDawg is blaming Ty for this one.  "That should have been handled at first base!")

8:32 – Come on Mark, give us a "thank you for voting me in as a starter" home run!

8:33 – Or pop it up.  6 of 1…

8:35 – I’m happy to see Beckett pitching well for the third game in a row, now….what I’d really like to see is our offense pick it up.  Which won’t happen until they’re up again, I understand.

8:36 – Another homerun given up by Beckett.  Russell Branyon (who either strikes out or hits a  homerun, according to Don Orisllo). 2-0 DRays in the bottom of the fifth.

8:37 – Back to back homeruns – homerun number two for Wigginton.  3-0 DRays.  Man this stinks.

8:39 – Swinging strike out…come on Josh, keep it up.

8:40 – That’s two…get out of the inning, Josh and get our offense in there to pick you up.

8:41 – Apparently, Beckett doesn’t like Carl Crawford’s face since he seems to want to put a ball in it.  Josh strikes him out – time for the offense to take over.  Really, boys, we won’t mind a hit or two or three.

8:43 – It seems whenever the Sox are losing, NESN shows some commercial that has clips of walk-offs from the season.  Kills me. 

8:45 – Kazmir is throwing a one-hitter.  A one-freaking-hitter.  I’m not complaining, mind you, I’m just pointing it out.  And he just had an eight pitch inning.  Eeg.

8:51 – Rocco Baldelli is, I’ll say it, BALD.  What a surprise.  Seriously.  He just doesn’t look anything like he does in the hat/helmet as he does without it.  And he looks about 10 years older than he is.

8:52 – Beckett has two outs.  Okay, get out of this inning and let your offense take the lead.  (Have I written this before?)  Cantu is on first.  Forget my plan.  What the heck do I know?

8:55 – Four pitch walk to Gomes.  Beckett is throwing 96 still and is STILL missing.  Not good.  Not good at all.  Two on two out and Branyon up.

8:57 – Branyon strikes out swinging.  3-0 DRays at the end of six.  This game is still quite winnable guys.

9:02 – Kazmir has 8 strikeouts and 1 hit.  I actually am almost feeling sorry he has the one hit.  If the Sox end up NOT winning (which, I still think they can and WANT them to do) I’ll feel really sorry that Kazmir didn’t no-hit them.  On the other hand, I’m very happy AGon has kept his hitting streak alive…so that and a Red Sox win is more important to me than Kazmir getting his no-no.  πŸ™‚

9:05 – Beckett has six strikeouts himself.  He’s really not pitching all that terribly save for three homerun balls.  Yes, I know how that sounds, but a team like the Sox should be able to overcome a 3-0 game. 

9:10 – Once again, a double-play ends the inning.  We’re running out of outs, boys.

9:13 – Oh, I forgot about the walk, the hit batsman and the two base runners due to errors.  So at least it isn’t a perfect game ruined by one hit.  Come on, guys, let’s hit this kid.

9:14b – Kazmir tries to hit Youkilis and instead walks him.  WTH?

9:15 – Come on boys, let’s take advantage!

9:15b – Mark Loretta gets another chance to thank the fans.  πŸ™‚

9:16 – And he pops it up again.  πŸ™

9:16b – Big Papi could get us back in this game…

9:17 – Papi gets mad at called strike two…and Papi is strikeout number nine.

9:21 – Beckett is out, Lopez is in.  Oh, I’m sure Beckett is thrilled about this.

9:22 – It must really be a good hit for me to say out loud, "wow, that was a good hit!".  Too bad Carl Crawford is the dude who got the hit.

9:23 – Beauty of a play by Mike Lowell to get Crawford out at second.  Nice.

9:25 – Baldelli steals second with one out.  Grrr.

9:26 – SWEET double play! Hey, if my boys can’t score at least they’re still playing killer defense!! 3-0 Devil Rays going into the ninth.  Let’s pick it up, guys.

9:28 – Scott Kazmir is in there in the 9th.  Knock him out, guys…

9:29 – MANNY HITS A LEAD OFF DOUBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (Hey, it’s worth getting excited about!)

9:31 – Remy thinks Baldelli is hurt.  How much would THAT stink?  (Seriously.)

9:32 – Somewhere my father is yelling about how Tek swung at yet another pitch in the ground.  I just know it.

9:32 – Come on, Mike, don’t waste Manny’s double.

9:33 – Like that.

9:34 – And it’s all up to The Babe.

9:34b – Hey, all six of the Devil Rays’ fans are up and cheering!

9:35 – End of game. DRays win 3-0.  Kazmir has a complete game shut-out.  Good for him.  He pitched an amazing game.  Wish he didn’t do it against the Red Sox, but what are you going to do.  Dude has our number.

9:36 – Here’s hoping Cleveland holds the Yanks down.  Then it will be like this game never happened.  πŸ™‚  Thanks for stopping by, folks.  Have a great night!

(Michael Kay just pointed out that the Red Sox lost and the optimists will say that the Yankees loss won’t matter, and the pessimist will say it certainly does because they could pick up a game.  So, apparently, the Yankees ARE as concerned with the Sox as the Sox are with the Yankees.  Go figure.  He’s also talking about how everyone is on a level playing field with the new drug testing.  He can’t be serious.)

9:41 – One final thought on the game.  I thought I’d be mad if the Sox lost tonight.  I’m not, though.  Looking back on the game, Kazmir pitched a gem.  Some nights, you’re just going to come up against great pitching and get hammered.  That happened tonight. Beckett pitched really well but Kazmir was great.  Pretty much end of story.

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