Mini hiatus

Um, gonna take a little time off here.
My eyes are kinda screwed up. Things are very, very dark. Very difficult to see and, quite frankly, I find myself getting a migraine trying to read the screen right now, so I'll be off.

This just started today and hopefully it'll be over just as quickly.
So, I'll be around, reading where I can but, until this passes, think I'll be passing on typing much in the near future.

I'll stick with tv for now, larger pictures are easier to make out.
Just what I need right? Another reason to stay in couch potato land.
Maybe I'll lift some dumbbells - right.

Happy, but concerned

Let me put it this way:
I am happy as all get out that we swept the Yankees at home for the first time in a home face-off in umpteen years.

However - I'm not entirely content about it.
Frankly, the problem of it all is this - we just barely won all three when we were facing the bottom of the barrel, injury-laden Yanks that we really had no excuse to lose against.

Fact of the matter is, we barely got outta there alive.
Case in point, our crucial runs came from the least likely places.

Don't get me wrong - I can't remember the last time I've been as excited as I was tonight, watching the four two-out solo home runs that took place - albeit against a rookie in his second start. Ever.

I'm also pleased that Dice-K lasted long enough to allow the go-ahead runs to count in his favor towards evening up his starts at 2-2.
Oh, and yeah, captain? V-Tek, continuing confirmation that he's over his early season slump.
Love the captain. Just wish that Wily-Mo were doing more to try to earn a sub-spot for Coco.
Hey, if they combine for a .250 average I will be both surprised and pleased.

Nonetheless, legitimately concerned that facing this more than depleted team (Petitte had to mid-relief for crying out loud, after starting on Friday) that we just barely eked out a win.

However, not to look a gift horse and all that good crap - uber happy to sweep and extend our lead against the Yanks, however early in the season it may be.

Oh, and by the way - how intensly, Children of the Corn does Pap look when he's setting up for a ninth inning shut down? So glad he's on our side.

How did that happen?

Somehow, still trying to figure it out, we came back and beat the Yankees last night.
I'm still a little giddy and definitely hungover.

After going to a different neighborhood bar for a change to watch, I managed to get the White Sox fans there in my corner.
They all stuck around after the Sox beat the Tigers to root for my Sox.

In any case, after that wonderful eighth inning, I was going a little apeshit and was given two shots by my new friends to calm my ass down.

Nice to hear applause for a win when no one there was a fan except me.
Of course, we all share a mutual hatred for the Yankees so I guess that's more what they were cheering for. I'll take it.
Good to see 'Tek's bat wake up. Oh captain, my captain.
Well done.

Bittersweet

This'll be brief since I really need to lay down.

Red Sox won today, shocking actually, considering that Tavarez was pitching, but it all worked out in the end.
Win for Timlin, save for the Papelbon and there you have it.

Thought things were going to get even better, what with the Yankees down 6-2 in the ninth inning against Cleveland.

Then they were down 6-4.
And then...

Fucking A-Rod.
Can I just tell you how sick I am of this guy? Good god.
He's the devil.

Yet another walk-off home run, at least this was only for three runs, not a grand slam.

Nonetheless, ended my viewing with a bitter taste.

Ok, moving right along.
Yay Sox! Start our series against the Evil Empire tomorrow.
Better be feeling better so I can go to the bar.

Back to bed.

Not a great night

Allow me to admit up front that I did not watch the game tonight, although I did witness via MLB.com the first two unfortunate and ultimate runs allowed by Dice-K tonight.

Fact of the matter is, I was having a particularly crappy health day today.
Managed to make dinner for the next three days but, bottom line, was having some serious mobility issues today.

To put it mildly, and, well, not to share too much, suppose I found I had to go to the bathroom at 11AM, well, having done that, finally made it back to bed around 1PM. Difficult to maneuver today.

In any case, was hobbling around and settling in for the night around 7:30 when my phone rang.
Yep, called in to sub for my pool team.

Got there around 8:30 and, of course, drank for free.
But, honestly, free booze matters little when every motion is excrutiating.
Put on my best/bravest face and simply told my teammates I had the flu when they asked me why I looked so ill.

All things considered, fared fairly well.
We only won four games tonight. Betweeen seven of us over fifteen games.
I won two of the four.

Kinda sad.
Ah well.

Hopefully, we'll all fare better next week.

Lousy Timing

Everything seems to be due this month.
Feeling extra destitute.
Thank goodness for credit cards, even if I'm not paying them off as quickly these days.

Renew license plates - $78
Renew car insurance - $150
Order new city parking sticker - $75
Oil change - $30.

Starting to question the value of owning a car these days. At least that part's paid off.
However, it is a necessary evil, especially given the occasional inconvenient times when I have trouble walking.

Anyway, onto better things, right?
Tonight is the season ending party for my Tuesday night pool league.
I love the people I play with, so I'm looking forward to hanging out with them.
Plus, you know, open bar 8-11, so at least I'll save a little money there.

Huh, I thought we were past that.

Went to the bar to watch the lackluster performance by the Red Sox vs. the Mariners.
No run support.

Not good.
I'll leave it at that.

What startled me is what occurred afterwards.
I ran into a good friend of mine and her husband after the game and was thrilled to hang out with them as I hadn't seen them for months.

During our time together, ended up hanging out with some British gents as well.
No problem there, they were fun.

However, at the end of the night, as I was saying my goodbyes, one of the Brits asked me where I was from.

"Outside of Boston," I answered.

"No, that's not what I meant," he said, "the curly hair, the complexion, what?"

"Oh," I said, "I'm a Polish Jew."

He then made a snorting sound and turned his back to me.

Maybe it's just me, but I was a little bewildered by this.
I mean really, after hanging out, talking, having a fine enough time, why would someone's heritage render that useless?
Anyway, made a sour night, turned better, however briefly, turn ultimately very, very sour for the night.

Please tell me he was an anomaly.
I would like to maintain faith in international humanity, but maybe that's just me.

Shut Up!

Needless to say, a great time was had watching today's Red Sox trouncing of the Mariners.
Here's hoping they didn't spend it all in one place.
Hopefully, they'll have more runs to support Dice-K and Wakes in the next two games.

One minor irritant.

There was this chick at the bar - can't hold too much fault with her as she was, after all a Sox fan.
But I swear, she was maybe 21 by two months.

She would not. Shut. Up.

In any normal conversation when one would say "no way!" or "you're kidding!" or "really!", she would say, very loudly, "Shut UP!!!!!"
This got a little irritating over time.

Actually, I had to leave after the seventh inning. Just couldn't take any more.

So yeah, on the train ride home, I missed Timlin giving up two runs.
Just as well.

In any case, Beckett got his second win in two attempts this season and I am ever so geared up for tomorrow's game.

Dice-K meeting up with Ichiro again. (Anyone else find it interesting that his jersey says Ichiro on the back instead of Suzuki? No? Ah well.)

In any case, should be a stunnah!

Home Opener

Beckett's starting today for our home opener, so I'll be headed to Nic & Dino's to watch this afternoon.

One of the owners of the bar around the corner was very excited to inform me that they get FSN New England so I could watch games there. Unfortunately, I had to tell him that they don't broadcast Sox games, NESN does. He was crestfallen.

Oh well, he's guaranteed to have my presence when they're on ESPN but otherwise, southbound go I.

Papi's Back!

Two home runs in his first two at-bats yesterday.
And, the only runs of the game for the Sox.
Good to see Schilling pitch a solid seven innings too, a far cry from the four that he barely made it through on Opening Day.

All in all a great game to watch, aside from the more than alarming eighth inning.
But, before it got out of hand, they wised up and put Papelbon in to get the last five outs of the game.

Gotta love the Papelbon.
That's all for now, still a little hungover, in a good way, of course.

What a waste

We get no runs for Wakefield, who held the opposition to two runs, then for Tavarez, that snake, we get four, but it's irrellevant.

I'm a little annoyed.
A little bitter.

Then, to pour lemon juice in the papercut, A-Rod, of all people, secures a Yanks win with a walk-off grand slam.

Asshat.

Annoyed. Very much so.

In any case, I'll be back at my local bar tomorrow night, since the game'll be ESPN again.
Here's hoping Schilling can redeem himself for opening day.

Pfeh.

Oh, and while I'm bitching, let me get this out of my system.
I live across the street from a church, and, apparently, there's some pre-Easter thingamawhosit going on tonight. Suffice to say, many illegally parked church patrons.

That's fine. No problem with that for me.

But here's the issue.
As I type this update, it is after 11PM.
Random people departing the church, rather than waiting or waving down others or, say, calling them on their phones, are honking....frequently....incessantly....loudly, outside my window.

I hate to be a curmudgeon.
Honest, I used to be a night owl, but these days, as my roommate is going out for the night, I'm either about to go to bed or already have, so, needless to say, these late-night horn honkings are making me a little snarky.

Couple that with the fact that our plumber/maintenance/whatever guy is expected at 8AM tomorrow morning, well, you'll have to forgive me for being a little irritable. Normally I'd save it for the morning but, given our day in baseball, my snarkiness precedes me.

'Nuff said. G'night.

A New Home

What a great afternoon!!!

Went to a bar called Nic and Dino's (sorry, no web site for me to link to) about two miles south of my apartment for the game.
Approached the entrance to find a gigantic Red Sox flag hanging over the doorway.

I knew I'd found the right place.

Sure enough, Red Sox paraphernalia everywhere and an abundance of fans.

I sat down at the bar and ordered my vodka. A few minutes later one of the owners walked by, saw my Varitek t-shirt and said as he passed, "Tek's gotta find his bat."
"No shit, huh?" I replied. We chuckled and I knew I'd found my home.

Most people had taken the day off or a half-day to witness Dice-K's major league regular season debut.

He did not disappoint.
With the exception of one solo home run and a few other uneventful hits, he was fantastic.
Got himself out of a few jams, and a 1-2-3 strikeout 4th inning, and made it through seven innings.

All capped of with a save by the Papelbon.

Great day. Met some fun people.
So much more fun to watch a game when you're not the only one in the bar who cares.
Nice to not feel like a transplant.

So, that's it.

Yay!

Much Better

The Sox redeemed themselves last night for their atrocious season opener.
So, with Dice-K starting today, I find myself having to find a way to watch this game.

Not on ESPN. So not at my local bar.

I'm trying out a new place this afternoon, not a place I can walk to, but arrived to easily enough by train and then a little bit of walking. It's owned by two Bostonians and supposedly they're showing all the games, so I'll give it a shot.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Despite it all

Ok, so today's game sucked.
Pure and simple.

Nonetheless, I did buy a ticket for when my boys'll be in town in August.
Going to the Thursday night game.
Paid for it with my credit card, adorned with the Red Sox logo. Better be a good sign.

Today wasn't quite so fun, we'll give ourselves a day to think about it before we try again.

No doubt, Wednesday will be better.

Red Sox, Red Sox, How I Love the Red Sox*

*Sung to the tune of "Fish Heads"

It's Opening Day!
I'm so unbelievable happy right now. Thus far, we're undefeated!
Of course, we don't play our first game til this afternoon.

At this point, I'm happy to be unemployed, because I get to go watch the game on TV in the afternoon. For lack of NESN, I'm glad ESPN had the presence of mind to broadcast the first Sox game of the season. Of course, they're showing the first Yankees game too, they mama didn't raise no dummy.

In any case, I've been giddy since last night, just thinking about it.
I'm not quite psycho yet, I mean, really, the season's just getting started - lot's of baseball to be played. But still, I can't help but think that Psycho Sportsfan Jess isn't too far away. She's been brewing every since football season ended so it's shouldn't be long now.

Anyway, off I go. Gonna try to be productive until this afternoon. Hopefully I'll be back later with happy results of the game.

Go Sox!


Postscript: So much for that. Crud. Yanks won, Sox lost. Not a good day. Schilling barely made it through four innings and some questionable base-running didn't help either.
Not a good day. Against KC, no less. Guh.