I see my freedom from across the way

How is there not a photo of Kyle and Bronson together? This photo of Kyle was taken by Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.net in 2007 and used with permission.

Sleep did me no favors last night. I had odd dreams that kept waking me and was awake more than asleep. None of that was connected to the Red Sox, though (one loss won’t get me down), so let’s throw cold water on our faces and start a new day. We do that by not thinking about all the crap that happened yesterday, right?

Let’s talk about Kyle Snyder!

There’s been a lot of movement with the Bisons pitchers and, according to Adam Rubin, this is putting Kyle Snyder in a position to move into the rotation.

Kyle Snyder, who made 48 relief appearances with the Red Sox between ’07 and ’08, is easing into the rotation at Buffalo with Casey Fossum having declared free agency and signing with the Yankees. After tossing four innings against Louisville last weekend, Snyder was scheduled to pitch Game 2 of Wednesday’s doubleheader at Lehigh Valley. That pushed Jon Niese to Friday, so Niese could pitch in a nine-inning game while Snyder could start a seven-inning contest. Coincidentally, it also lines Niese up with Ken Takahashi’s turn in the Mets’ rotation.

Rubin wrote this yesterday and today Niese has already been called up. I’ll be seeing Buffalo play Pawtucket on May 19 and have my fingers crossed that I might get to see Kyle pitch! (I’ll mention this more closer to the date, but I also have a ticket to the Red Sox game on May 19. It’ll be my first, two-park double-header!)

Now how about Bronson Arroyo?

I received a comment on one of the Bronson videos I posted on YouTube that, at the very least, got today off to a laughing start:

1 inning 9 runs… he can sing ok, but he f***ing killed my fantasy team..

I was so wrapped up in the Boston sports scene last night that I forgot to check on Bronson’s start. I have two ponies in this race: My being a fan of his and wanting him to do well being one and his being on MY damn fantasy team being the other! I just checked. My fantasy team lost last night 11-2. That just seems fitting.

Bronson’s usual response to a bad outing (Dusty Baker ended up putting in shortstop Paul Janish pitch the ninth) is to blow it off and say something like “it happens”. It’s one of the things I love about him – while realizing it probably makes Reds’ fans crazy to hear. Bronson didn’t disappoint in the quote department last night:

“It’s like walking into a casino, man,” Arroyo said. “You win one night, but that don’t mean you’re going to win the next night. … It just so happens we’re playing good on the road. Honestly, there’s nothing different around here. It’s about as arbitrary as saying the dietician took all the bad food out of here and that’s why we’re losing. I have no idea, man. The two times I’ve felt like a monster coming out of the pen were this game and the Atlanta game and I’ve given up a total of 18 runs in those two games,” Arroyo said. “Crazy. Pittsburgh, I felt terrible coming out of the pen and I put eight zeros on the board.

“It doesn’t jibe, man. Guess that’s why you play the game.”

“That’s why you play the game.” That sound you heard was all the Reds fan smashing their heads against something after reading that.

Fans banging their heads? Say hello to Buffalo Bisons fans. Once again, on a double-header night, the Bisons lost the first game and had the second game rained out. They are 4-20 on the season thus far. 4-20. And they have to play a game at 10:35 this morning to make up for just ONE of the rained out games.

See, folks? It could always be worse.

A shout-out to the person who took me to my first MLB game: my dad. Both my parents helped encourage my love of New England sports but it was Dad who brought me to Fenway for the first time. Back in 1982, I finally talked him into taking me to a game and we saw Wade Boggs hit his first home run as a Red Sox player (and in the bigs for Boggs). I loved Wade Boggs for the majority of the time he played in Boston, solely because of this game. My Dad will tell you that I’ve surpassed his passion for the Red Sox but that’s not necessarily true. He just hides it better than I do.

So happy 74th birthday, Jim Donnelly! Thanks for helping to raise me a passionate (yet, I hope, thoughtful) fan and for everything else you’ve done. I love you, Dad.

Now let’s hope Wake wins tonight. If he doesn’t, my Dad might never let me hear the end of it. 😉

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