Private Eyes are Watching You

Last year, the day after Clay Buchholz pitched his no-hitter, Jon Lester was the starting pitcher. (I remember this. I was at both games.)

So I’m hoping NEXT year, Josh Beckett is starting the day after Justin Masterson’s no-hitter. 🙂

Justin gets his second major-league start tonight at 7:05pm. I WON’T be there, but I wish the kid well. He hasn’t been so hot in Portland since he went back after his FIRST major-league start, so here’s hoping getting another taste of the bigs puts him back on track. I’m guessing he’s headed to Pawtucket after today and wonder what that means for Kyle Snyder, if anything. (Never can have enough pitching – remember that!) 🙂

Speaking of Kyle, before Lester through his incredible game, I had started writing a post about something I found on eBay. While “looking around”, I came upon this listing.

Now, admittedly, I own a Kyle Snyder, game-worn jersey. But I didn’t buy it because it was game-worn. I bought it because I was looking for a Snyder jersey and buying it off of eBay was less expensive (with quicker delivery) than making one through mlb.com. I’m not usually comfortable buying ‘game-worn’ stuff. Most of it seems to come from clubhouse guys who sell it to memorabilia dealers, who then do things like sell them on eBay. I especially don’t understand the logic behind why someone would want, say, Kyle Snyder’s used socks. (No offense to Kyle. I just don’t get it. Much like I don’t understand why anyone would want a pair of Mike Timlin’s used uniform pants.)

The real reason I found this auction interesting isn’t because the socks belong to Kyle, but because the socks, seemingly, DON’T belong to Kyle.

(UPDATE:  The listing has been pulled.  I received an email from the seller and the socks belong to Dave Magadan.  So there you go.  Yes, this is what I do with my spare time.  😆 )

Notice the number on the socks? 29. (Keith Foulke’s old number!) Also, if you read the description, the claim is these came from a Red Sox clubhouse attendant and were game-worn from in 2008.

So I emailed the seller to “find out” what the number 29 stood for. (I already knew. I wanted him to tell me.) He responded with a curt “It’s his number”, to which I responded back that no, in fact, it wasn’t his number so he was either being misled by the person who sold him the item, or he was misleading buyers. I still haven’t heard back from him. Big surprise.

Add to that Kyle not having BEEN in the Fenway clubhouse in 2008…well, we have a liar, liar pants on fire in the house. (Although, I suppose they could have been work in Japan…but still, number 29?)

Dig me, I’m Nancy Drew. 🙂

It pisses me off enough that people make a living off of selling stuff like this. The LEAST they could do is be selling it legitimately.

How long before someone on eBay claims to be selling the underwear Jon Lester wore during his no-hitter?

Two more things about the no-hitter: The Kansas City Royals haven’t been no-hit in 35 years. So the Yankees fans emailing me to tell me this is no big deal “because it was the Royals” can go pound sand. Also, I don’t think it should be lost that Jason Varitek became the first catcher in MLB history to catch FOUR no-hitters. (Hideo Nomo, Derek Lowe, Clay Buchholz and now Jon Lester). That certainly says something about the player behind the plate. Congratulations to Tek as well!

“The fact that he’s caught four in his career, the only catcher to do that, that’s a team effort. Jason has a huge impact in what goes on. Certainly, Jon threw every pitch, but Jason’s guidance certainly got him to that point tonight.” Red Sox pitching coach, John Farrell.

Weekly Bronson Arroyo update: Let’s not talk about it. (He wasn’t horrible. 5 innings, 5 runs – 3 earned – 9 hits…okay, he wasn’t great either – but wasn’t helped by his defense much. Reds lose to Dodgers after winning six straight.)

PawSox beat the Yankees again last night and are now 3 games out of first. Charlie Zink pitches at 11am today and then the team gets a day off before another series starts in Pawtucket on Thursday. (If my math is right, Kyle is slated to come off the DL on Thursday.)

It’s fun being a baseball fan around these parts, isn’t it?