Okay, it occurred to me that I haven’t done this ‘live’ before. Usually, I blog while the game is on but don’t save in real time…then I add some links, some pictures and ‘publish’ it when the game is over. Not this time. So my apologies if you’re reading this in real time…it’ll probably be a mess. I’m not working from the bottom up, I’m going to just keep going down (so you’ll have to scroll down to get the newest updates). If you aren’t reading this as it happens, well then you just wasted a minute of your life reading something that doesn’t apply to you. My apologies. (Edited to add….if you’re looking for play by play, I promise you this isn’t the place to get it!) I’ll probably be saving between each half inning…we’ll see how that goes.
John over at "Rays from Across the Pond" is also live-blogging tonight, if you want to get the view from the ‘other side’. May the best team win, John!
7:05pm – Matt Clement v Casey Fossum (or, as I wrote yesterday, Ichabod Crane v Olive Oyl). Casey never fulfilled his potential when he was in Boston, and when my friend Pam and I met him (at an autograph signing) he was a bit of a horse’s behind, so there’s no love lost. I’m a fan of Matty’s…even if I do think the Sox should have traded him over Arroyo…so I’m hoping he has a good game.
Hey, Joey Gathright is playing tonight. Maybe we’ll get a Gathright/Tavarez rematch?
7:08pm – Matt Clement just struck out Carl Crawford, that’s way better than getting hit in the head, eh Matty?
Back to back strikeouts! Okay, I know I said I wasn’t going to do play by play…but YAY Matt. See, it was me. As long as I’m not in Fenway, Matt remembers how to pitch. (Don’t count your chickens, Cyn, Matt’s bad inning last time was the 2nd…)
Have you all heard the "Yo Lo Go Lo Va" story? Jerry Remy took the first two letters of the last names of the infield (including the catcher) and sings it to the tune of "Oye Como Va" by Santana. Okay, it makes no sense…but it’s pretty catchy! "Yo Lo Go Lo Va…Mi infield!"
7:15pm – Wily Mo Pena just said "In Your Face", Red Sox Chick…can Bronson do that?" End of the inning. It was a little sketchy there, but there’s no score. That’s nice.
7:21pm – The "shift" is on…Jerry Remy is wigging out because there are basically four outfielders right now against Big Papi. And, apparently it works.
No score at the end of one and the Rays have a hit. Ah, well.
So is Kiefer Sutherland going to spend the rest of his career fighting terrorists? Who would go see "The Sentinel" when they could just watch "24" for free?
7:27pm – I like Toby Hall. Sure he just popped out to Kevin Youkilis, but he’s a bit of a dirt dog, isn’t he?
1-2-3 inning on 11 pitches. Bottom of the second coming up. God save me from this freaking Jimmy Fallon/Parker Posey Pepsi commercial. I want them both to get hit by cars. That would make a much better ending than the one they have.
7:33pm – Holy cow…Russell Branyan makes a spectacular catch! (And then adjusts himself on national television. Mama Branyan must be so proud.)
Come on, Mike (Lowell, that is), let’s get a hit off this kid. (I swear I just heard the Tampa Bay Heckler…I must be hallucinating.)
Remy must be bored…he’s talking about how when Fossum gets old he won’t have ‘love-handles’.
Lowell gets a base hit. Thank you, Mike. I owe you one.
Jorge Cantu muffs that play. Yay! (I feel terrible saying ‘yay’ to Jorge Cantu blowing a play…he seems like a good kid.)
Don’t worry Jorge, Wily Mo is up…in the words of my dad, "he’s going to strike out or hit a home run". There’s confidence for you.
Holy cow he walked Wily Mo and loaded the bases. I have nothing witty to say…I’m stunned.
Alex Gonzalez is up…
Yep. He’s up.
AGon is great in the field…have I mentioned our infield? We have a great infield.
He’s a great shortstop. Yep. He is. Great. Awesome glove. Love him in the infield. La la la, this is me pretending AGon isn’t up at bat with the bases loaded and two outs…
Joe Madden’s glasses are driving my father crazy. I love watching baseball games with my dad.
7:43pm – AGon swung at ball four and flied out. I’m stunned. Really I am.
This Foxwoods commercial where the couple sings about being closer because they go there and spend no time together? Someone should be smacked for even suggesting that as an idea.
7:45pm – Poor Joey Gathright. Regardless of what he does the rest of his career, he’ll always be the guy Julian Tavarez punched in the face.
I’m totally annoyed that the Red Sox left the bases loaded. It’s way too early in the season to be totally annoyed in the 3rd inning.
7:48pm – Travis Lee is a freaking hottie. There’s my girly moment for the night.
No score and both teams have two hits going into the bottom of the third. This is why people don’t like baseball.
7:51pm – Yankees/Toronto score is 4-3 Yanks. Randy Johnson is pitching. That could be an interesting game if the Jays offense keeps it up. (Update from NESN – I haven’t changed the channel yet – I might though, you know, switch back and forth between the games…I get ‘itchy’.)
7:55pm – Papi almost goes yard…right off the Green Monster and he’s on second with two outs and Manny up. Fear the Papi, Casey Fossum, he cares not that you pitch with your left hand.
7:57pm – That will teach you to hit Matt Clement in the head with a line drive, Carl Crawford. Back to back doubles…Manny knocks Big Papi home because Crawford can’t reach the ball. Can I get a "yee-haw"?
7:50pm – End of 3, 1-0 Red Sox, and….AUGH MY EYES MY EYES!!!!!!!!!!! GET HAZEL MAE OFF MY TELEVISION BEFORE THE SILICONE GETS ME!!!!
Ah, Charlie Moore…that’s better.
8:01pm – (Trivia question on NESN) Who are the only two teams the Devil Rays have a winning record against? My guess is the Blue Jays and the Red Sox…but I really have no idea.
8:03pm – Matt Clement has three strikeouts and Russell Branyan is kind of cute – especially when he gets Clement his fourth strikeout of the night.
Middle of the fourth and we get the "Yogi" Aflac commercial. The only one worth watching. Thank you, Yogi, for keeping Jimmy Fallon off my television.
8:08pm – Mike Lowell is up. I love me the old guys. I’d love to see an entire team of ‘old guys’ make it… OH GOD NOW IT’S TINA CERVASIO…MAKE IT STOP!!!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Apparently the writing campaign we started on Surviving Grady to get her the heck off our televisions has failed miserably.
8:11pm – Two outs and Wily Mo gets to first on a Ty Wigginton error. But fear not, Ty, AGon is up and will end your inning.
And he does.
8:12pm – Just found out I can’t watch the Yankees even if I wanted to because freaking HOCKEY is on my MLB Extra Innings channels. Cable s*cks. (Okay, I love cable more than my cat, but still…)
8:13pm – Manny just held Toby Hall to a looooong single. People need to respect Mr Ramirez in the outfield. You heard me.
8:15pm – Mr. Hall, say hello to Mssrs Varitek and Gonzalez. Take a seat on the bench, thank you.
8:16pm – Joey Gathright is up. Julian Tavarez punched him during a spring training game. It wasn’t well-covered in the press, so I wanted to make sure the word got out. Joey Gathright looks like he could hold his own in a fight…and he gets a hit as well. Close-up of Gathright shows that he looks about 12…man, I’m old.
8:22pm – Middle of the fifth, 1-0…these boys are a whole new Red Sox team…
8:24m – Youuuuuuk hits a long single. Nice to see everyone contributing.
8:26pm – This Branyan kid is getting on my nerves. 2 out, 1 on, Manny up.
8:28pm – Toronto is up 7-4 in the 4th inning. My punishment for yelling "bwahahahaha!" upon hearing this news? Manny makes out 3.
8:29pm – When the heck are they going to tell me the answer to the trivia question? Maybe I missed it. I probably did huh? What in the ten seconds I changed the channel to find the Yankees game? Ugh. John probably knows the answer. I could "Google" it, but I’m not going to.
8:33pm – Guess I was right about the Jays offense and Randy Johnson. So sad.
8:35pm – Matty has five strikeouts tonight. WTG, boy!
8:37pm – Matt uses 10 pitches to get out of the inning. Again, WTG, boy!
8:39pm- The Detroit Tigers and the Kansas City Royals, according to Don Orsillo. Why the heck did it take so long for them to give the answer? Obviously, I sadly gave the Devil Rays way too much credit. The Red Sox have 88 wins against the Devil Rays…the Rays are 44-88 against the Sox, 42-88 against the Yankees. Hey, I’m just sharing the info Donnie O is giving us.
8:42pm – Mike Lowell is up again. Mike Lowell struck out. HEY they went to Tom Caron in the studio instead of Hazel Mae! NESN DOESN’T hate me!!!!!
8:44pm – When did Dustan Mohr get in the game? End of 6, 1-0, Sox.
At the game on Saturday, there was someone in front of me with a number 18 jersey (no name on the back) on. "Hey," I yell to my friend Kelly, "he’s wearing a Dustan Mohr jersey!".
Well, Kelly and I thought it was funny.
8:46pm – Ty Wigginton just hit a homerun into the Monster seats to tie the score. I’m pretty sure I just heard John cheering.
8:48pm – Well, this is getting ugly. Man on second, no outs. Time for another strikeout, Matty, ya think?
8:50pm – Okay, Tito….you can get Timlin or Foulke up in the bullpen any time now. Really. (How about Tavarez? Isn’t Joey Gathright up soon?)
8:51pm – Mr. Perez, say hello to Mssrs Clement and Gonzalez. Take a seat on the bench, thank you.
8:55pm – Gathright is on first base. Youkilis could take him.
8:57pm – Strike 3…caught him looking – 7 strikeouts. Good job, Matt.
9:01pm – Just realized I rewound my dvr and have been watching the game on a delay…so the times on my entries are off.
9:04pm – Did I just see the Red Sox bunt? Seriously, did I? I haven’t had anything to drink or eat since 7:00pm, I could be hallucinating. I am, aren’t I?
9:05pm – Okay, I’m back in real time. Thank goodness for pitching changes. Wily Mo is on second, Scott Dunn is on the mound, we have one out and Youk is up to bat.
Thus ends my play by playing. 🙂
9:07pm – Oh for the love of Mike, are there any guys on the Devil Rays older than 12?
9:08pm – What the heck was that? Walk to Youk, ball rolls away, Wily Mo is on third. Toby, Toby, Toby…
9:09pm – MARK LORETTA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Knocks Wily Mo in, Youk is out at 2nd and our very own Low Rider is safe at first. Tie score. Thank you, boys.
9:10pm – Mr. Dunn, say hello to Mssrs Youkilis, Pena and Loretta. Take a seat on the bench, thank you. (Oh wait, not until you meet Mr. Ortiz!)
9:12pm – Mark Loretta is the happiest guy in Boston and David Ortiz is the king of the two-bagger! Dunn is gone and Manny is coming up. ("Dunn is Done" was just too easy.) Score still tied…
9:16pm – I love when Manny just watches a pitch go by. As if he’s saying, "that one is so not good enough for me, I’ll wait for the next one thanks". Hey they took the error away from Ty and gave Wily Mo a hit. Official scorekeeper must not be a Bronson fan.
"Like the Red Sox, Tampa Bay does not have a lefty in the bullpen", so says Jerry Remy. Well, RemDawg, the Sox WOULD have a lefty in the bullpen if David Wells wasn’t such an arrogant, horse’s behind and Theo didn’t trade Bronson.
But I digress.
9:18pm – Branyan finally messes up. Thank you Russell for playing shallow! Manny hits a double and knocks in two runs…4-2, Sox with 2 outs, Manny on 2nd and our Captain up at bat.
9:20pm – End of 7, Sox 4, Rays 2 and Hazel Mae is on my television and I don’t even care. (Okay, I care…I’m just averting my eyes.)
9:24pm – Four pitch walk to Travis Lee and the jerks who booed Matty Thursday night are now cheering him. Good, he deserves it. Except, now Timlin is coming in. With a man on. I love Timlin. Love, love, love him. But he’s coming in with a man on. WITH A MAN ON, PEOPLE! It might be time for me to crack open a beer.
9:27pm – Don Orsillo just mentioned Mike’s "problem area" with inherited runners. Yeah, it’s just an area…not like he’s blown leads versus the Devil Rays before.
9:29pm – Gomes on second, Lee on third, no outs. Come on, Mike, prove me wrong, baby.
9:31pm – Oh good God. Tie score. The Fenway assw1pes are going to start booing my Mike any time now. (Guy on second and no outs, in case you’re wondering…Matt Clement looks like he wants to cry.)
The game is far from out of reach, but they never make it easy, do they?
9:34pm – Have I mentioned I’m going to the game tomorrow night? Alone. It’s one of the games I could only get a single seat for. Two things are on my mind: how cold it might be (it wasn’t last Thursday, but it is right now) and whether or not I’ll be able to hold my tongue if the boo-birds start. I’ll let you know how it goes. One out, guy on third, tie score. I haven’t opened a beer yet.
While I’m thinking of it, go visit Sox Sistahs Speak and say ‘hi’ to my sistahs.
9:37pm – Good job, Mike. Hall is out, whoosey is still on third. Two outs.
9:39pm – I have a friend who has the same name as the homeplate umpire. She’s a lot more loved than he.
9:40pm – Way to get out of some trouble, Mike. 4-4, middle of the 8th.
9:42pm – In the seventh inning, the Jays are up 10-5 over the Yankees. Guess these boys are for real, huh?
9:43pm – And the old man Mike Lowell hits a lead-off double. Baby!!!!!!! And Trot Nixon pinch hits for the kid I didn’t even know was in the game until halfway through (Mohr).
9:45pm – Jonathan Papelbon is up in the bullpen and I have tears of joy in my eyes.
9:46pm – Lugo just walked Trot Nixon. This makes me very happy…but I’m a little sad for Lugo. He’s a kid, this is a lousy thing to go through. Ah, well…he’ll get over it.
Way to kill my buzz, NESN, with that stupid Foxwoods commercial again. How do you get away with rhyming "one" and "won"?
I just tried to spellcheck with my Google toolbar and was told that my ‘document has too many suspicious words’…that’s some funny stuff. Yes, I know MLBLogs has a spell check, but it’s one word at a time, Google does the entire document.
And in typing all this, I missed Tina Cervasio…yay me!
9:50pm – One out, two on, AGon up at bat. God hates me.
9:53pm – They just showed Timlin in the dugout. He has that batshit look in his eyes. I love him, I don’t care how many inherited runners he lets score. AGon just struck out. He shouldn’t go sit next to Timlin right now.
9:54pm – YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TWO OUT DOUBLE – TWO RUNS IN….6-4 with two outs and Loretta up.
I have to rewind during the next commercial. They showed Timlin getting a ball and I don’t know why.
9:57pm – Mark Loretta, offensive MONSTER!! Single to drive in Youk. 7-4 Sox.
9:59pm – 3-0 count to Papi with Manny on deck. You all realize, if the Sox win, without giving up the lead in the ninth, Mike Timlin gets the win? You have to love the rules of baseball.
10:00pm – Papi strikes out…7-4 Boston at the end of 8. And I forgot to sing "Sweet Caroline".
10:03pm – Jonathan Papelbon in to save the game. Joey Gathright is up. There’s some story about Gathright…did he get in a fight or something?
10:04pm – "Flat-out gas" according to the RemDawg. Strikeout…one down, Carl Crawford up. Watch your head, Pap.
10:07pm – At this point in the game, when I’m there in person, I usually have my elbows on my knees and my face hiding in my hands. But I’m blogging…so I have to actually pay attention to the game. My stomach is in a knot. I just want Papelbon to do well…Crawford is on first, one out, 3-2 count to Cantu.
10:10pm – Blue Jays beat the Yankees 10-5. Doesn’t really matter but I thought I’d share.
While I was babbling, Mr Papelbon struck out Mr. Cantu and Mr. Crawford took second base. The dreamy Mr. Lee is up at bat.
10:12pm – 1-2…36,423 in Fenway are on their feet…I’m staring at my laptop. I have faith, I don’t have to see to believe.
10:13pm – Travis Lee just won’t give in. 2-2. I wonder if Mike Timlin has the same pain in his side that I do?
10:15pm – Full count. This is fine. Paps is made of steel….this is all good…dang, he just walked him. Those idiots better be booing the ump not Papelbon.
10:17pm – Pap is struggling tonight…don’t lose him, Jonathan…
10:18pm – Dang, another walk. This is my fault. I told both Michael and Kelly that I was worried this would happen.
10:19pm – It’s okay, Pap…you can pitch out of this. Strike one, good job. Strike two…
10:20pm – "Now’s the time to throw the splitter" my dad yells…
10:20pm – ADAM STERN DEFENSIVE SPECIALIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Game over…I won’t get to see Papelbon pitch tomorrow night because NO WAY will he be able to pitch.
Man, I love it when the team pulls together and wins TOGETHER.
Sox win, 7-4. It wasn’t pretty, but it was beautiful.
Cue "Dirty Water" by the Standells
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