One of Madison's favorite Jacoby shots courtesy of Kelly O'Connor and used with permission.
Earlier this week, when Jacoby Ellsbury hit a game-winning home run that marked his second consecutive game-winning hit, my 10- year-old niece (after jumping up and down and yelling “The Red Sox win because Jacoby is AWESOME!” about a hundred times) began a monologue directed toward her mother about exactly WHY “Jacoby is awesome”.
Unassisted by me, she pointed out to my sister that “Sure, he’s the best-looking baseball player EVER” but she was quick to include the fact that he “can hit and is AWESOME in the outfield!”. Â (She’s 10. Â “Awesome” is the word of the month.) Â She went on to tell us that some of the boys at her school like Jacoby but think the only reason the girls like him is because he’s “cute”. (Madison, my niece, has three Jacoby t-shirts. Â A red one with the number 46 on it, a navy one with the number 2 on it and his American League All Star t-shirt that she “REALLY” wanted because it marked the first time he was in the All Star Game. Â She doesn’t live in these shirts, but except for the All Star shirt that she only just got in July, she occasionally does wear them to school.) Â Madison isn’t afraid to admit to anyone that she thinks Jacoby is a good-looking fella, but she also likes to remind people that, in spite of what a good many had to say about him last season, he’s a good player as well. Â She’s ten and she gets this. Â I am, as you might suspect, very proud.
Yesterday was fun. Â Jacoby had six runs batted in. Â Six. Â Against CC Sabathia and the New York Yankees. Â Add to that, John Lackey getting a win over CC, the Sox regaining the tie for first place and Fox Sports not being able to spend the day bashing our boys and I wish every Saturday game could be like that one.
It put me in such a good mood that I’m not even bothered we have to wait until eight to watch the rubber game on ESPN tonight.
Also, the fact that right now it is absolutely pouring in Boston makes me happy we have a few hours for the rain to stop, the field to dry and the game to begin. Â Looking forward to watching Josh Beckett pitch even the idea of listening to the ESPN guys makes me sad.