Results tagged ‘ Rays ’
House of Horrors
Or what the Orange Bowl in Miami was to the Patriots…
But this place is becoming the Red Sox House of Horrors:
Tropicana Field aka The Trop!!!
Prior to last night, the Red Sox had lost 10 of their last 11 regular season games in the building. Not to mention, the 2008 season came to a screeching halt when the Rays won Game 7 of the ALCS.
The Sox had been very successful in Tampa, prior to 2007. They had posted a 50-35 record at the Trop; including a 2002 when they went 10-0. It was almost a home away from home. The place even had more Red Sox fan in it than Ray fans.
After going 1-8 there in 2008, the Red Sox have only won 2 (including last night) of their last 12 games. Hopefully, today the SOx will make it 2 in a row. However, I am not holding my breath since Boston is sending Brad Penny to the hill while the Rays will be sending James Shields. Seems like a mismatch to me.
Anyway, the Sox didn’t get a win last year in Tampa until September, so now that they’ve got it out of the way in May, maybe it will set the foundation for better success this season than last.
Go Sox!
PS. Can somebody make Evan Longoria a LITTLE uncomfortable at the plate today??? Penny plugged him, let’s see what happens in next ABs.
The Game Must Go On
I can’t imagine what it must be like losing a teammate in that fashion, but it must be a bit therapeutic to be able to get back on the field and play the game that you love, and the game that Nick loved. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of Nick and his three friends (two of who also died) and I hope the drunk driver never see the light of another day.
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I was going to post a blog yesterday, after I returned from the Rays – Red Sox series finale, but when I logged onto MLBlogs, that is when I found out the news. So, I think I was going to write a blog titled Two Left Feet or something similarly unwitty to follow up my Right Foot post. Anyway, all thoughts left my brain after seeing the MLBlogs home page.
So right now, the Red Sox are currently playing the Angels. The first game since the passing of Adenhart. The Angels are making it a track meet, which usually happens when Tim Wakefield puts runners on base. I may be able to steal a base off of Wakefield. Wakefield has been a bit of Jeckyll and Hyde tonight. A good inning, a bad inning, and so forth. He just went J&H in the same inning. He loaded the bases with no outs, and gets out of the jam just as quickly as he got in it.
A few noteworthy items tonight. The Red Sox are not where there usual road uniforms. They look like they’re wearing their (Do I have the correct they’re/there/their usuage?) Spring Training uniform, except for a new cap with the Sox in place of the B. Not sure how I like it yet, maybe if they were winning, I’d probably love the new look. Haha.
Next, Jerry Remy is missing from the booth tonight. The Red Sox are going with a musical chair of color guys tonight, each chipping in 2 innings of work. First up was Sean McAdams, from the Boston Herald. He was followed by Angel’s color man, Rex Hudler. Hudler was great to listen to in the booth, recalling many stories of his time as a player under Terry Francona in Philly. Currently, Fox’s Ken Rosenthal is in the booth. He has always been a quality baseball reporter. Tony Masserotti of the Boston Globe will be finishing the night in the booth, that should be interesting.
I must say I am enjoying the free preview of the MLB package on cable. Today, I caught the end of the Tigers blowout in their home opener. I then caught some of the Yankees – Royals game. The Yankees should be undefeated opening up against the last place teams of the AL East and Central. I then flipped between the Mets – Marlins game, which was quite the contest ending in a dramatic game-winning (I’m not a fan of “walk-off”) single by Jorge Cantu, and the Astros – Cardinals game before the Sox game started. I love baseball.
Finally, speaking of the Yankees and their supposed easy opening schedule. It is interesting to take a look at the current standings in the AL East:
It’s funny how things happen early in the season, only to have the cream rise to the top. Most people are expecting that to be reversed by the time the season ends:
Oh well, you get the point!
Top of 7, Sox still down 3-1. Let’s see if they can get their first comeback victory tonight.
GO SOX!!
BUZZKILL
OPENING DAY POSTPONED
Opening Day game between the Rays and Sox is rescheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) at 4:05 PM. Figures!
Guess I’ll be flipping back and forth between MLB Network and ESPN today.
Opening Day & Eve
Wooooooohooooooooooooo! FINALLY!!!!!! OPENING DAY IS HERE. However, the forecast is for rain, which is scheduled to begin around game time. Doh!!!!!!!! Let’s hope it can hold off for 3 or 4 hours. How disappointing.
However, what wasn’t disappointing was yesterday’s beautiful day that I spent at the olde (really OLD) ball park. I went to Fenway yesterday for 2 reasons.
1) Pick up my uniform:
Oops. That’s not my uniform. I wish.
Check. Look for me on TV. It’s funny though. Whenever I am watching a game on TV, I am always trying to notice fellow vendor’s working in the stands. The yellow shirts just stand out so much.
2) Try and meet up with Julia of Julia’s Rants and other bloggers she was trying to get to meet outside Fenway. Unfortunately, I did not make it in time to meet up. When I was finally finished picking up my uniform, I called Julia and she and Scott from I’m Not a Headline Guy were on top of the Prudential Building. Here is a picture of them:
No, really, they are up there. I was on the phone with her exactly at that moment, as I was standing behind the Red Sox dugout.
Since I was at the ballpark, I’d figure I might as well take in the Red Sox workout. It was a gorgeous day for baseball; warm and not a cloud in the sky. Since I brought my camera, I figured I might as well take a few (or 20 or 30) pictures. Here are some of them:
The view from the RF boxes next to the visitor’s bullpen:
Justin Masterson:
Dice-K:
John Smoltz:
Jonathan Papelbon:
Big Papi:
Dustin Pedroia:
Big Papi & Kevin Youkilis:
Evan Longoria: (thanks to Rays Renegade for the ID)
Theo Epstein (well, the back of his head, anyway):
Mike Lowell (talking with Longoria (l.) and Pat Burrell (r.) thanks to Rays Renegade again on ID of Rays players)
Jason Varitek:
Finally ~ View from the Budweiser section in upper RF:
It was quite a blast. It seemed like I had the whole park to myself. There were a couple of tours going on. Also, there were some other Red Sox employees who had their children there, but the greatest perk of working at the park is being able to be there without any fans.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that I noticed the lower (field level) and upper box (red) seats seem to have brand new seats in there. The actual seat parts have padding. I sat in one, and it was pretty comfortable. However, the only problem is that back rest seems to be the same height. So, now with a cushion there, the
back rest is on the lower part of your back which probably won’t be as comfortable as the game goes on. I think these new seats are only in the infield box seat sections. It looks like the RF boxes, grandstand (blue seats) and bleachers have the same crummy seats.
I talked to Boston Globe reporter, Tony Masserotti for a few minutes. Mostly about how much he misses (note sarcasm) being on the Big Show on WEEI sports talk radio.
As I was leaving, I almost walked right into a Tampa Bay Ray coming out of the Red Sox clubhouse. I am not sure who it was though. Maybe B.J. Upton, (did he travel up north with the team while being on the DL?) but I am not sure at all. He was just wearing some shorts and a T-shirt and not a name tag.
All and all, it was a great day. Quite the opposite of what I am looking at through my window as I type this. I better bring my galoshes with me, as I am on my way to the ball park just after I finish posting this.
Josh Beckett vs James Shield. Should be a great game!
Go Sox!!!
Photos:
Red Sox Jersey courtesy of MLB Stores
All others property of Red Sox Ramblings
Jealousy and Jeopardy
Happy April Fool’s Day. I’ve got nothing, so you don’t have to worry about me trying to get you like Julia did in her blog today/last night.
I just received my current issue of Baseball Sports Weekly this morning in the mail. On the cover was our boy Kevin Youkilis with the big cover story being the 2009 Baseball Season Preview focusing on the “Beasts of the East”: Red Sox, Rays, and Yankees.
However, that is not what has me jealous. Inside the newspaper (I can’t call it a magazine when it is printed on news paper) there is a page dedicated to each of the new ballparks opening this season: CitiDebt Field and the “new” Yankee Stadium. Oh, how I crave for a new ball park in Boston as I pointed out to Julia in her recent posting about Fenway Park.
These new ballparks look beautiful. The Mets new park has the spacious and retro Jackie Robinson Rotunda, which looks incredible. There is a review of the new ballpark over at Zack Hample’s blog. He is a bit over critical in my opinion, but he has some nice pictures of the new ballpark and I think it looks great.
The photo along with the “new” Yankee Stadium is an aerial shot of the stadium. I have seen a few pictures of the innards on various blogs here that I can’t remember, and this place looks great as well. The capacity of this new stadium is smaller than at “old” Yankee Stadium at 52,325. The batters will be happy as well, as 20 feet of foul territory has been eliminated behind home plate thus bringing the fans closer to the action.
I can’t wait to watch a game (on TV) with both of these stadiums. Although Fenway Park is the only place I’ve watched a game in person, I don’t understand why people wouldn’t want a new ballpark. From Camden Yards to Jacob Fields to PNC Park to AT&T Park. There are beautiful, comfortable, new parks to create new history in. The ship has long sailed out of port here in Boston, but someday I can’t wait to go to these new ballparks.
As I keep looking at the clock and calender waiting for it to be April 6th, 2009, I’ve been keeping myself busy (besides with fantasy baseball drafts) by watching Jeopardy. I love the modern invention of the DVR (VCR’s are historical though, maybe I shouldn’t have gotten rid of that) as it allows me to tape record every new episode of Jeopardy. It is funny, as I just read that Jane’s husband is a big fan (apparently she isn’t as she was pleading for Joba’s community service punishment be to watch Jeopardy’s with her husband) of the show.
Anyway, I love this show. My wife doesn’t even get THAT mad at me when I keep blurting out the correct answers questions. The other night I was watching an episode from February (I am a bit behind, but I believe I am in March now) where the Final Jeopardy category was Baseball Team Names (or something like that) and the clue was:
“This is the only team whose city name and nick name begin with the same four letters.”
That was a pretty simple final jeopardy clue. However, I will leave it unanswered for my loyal readers to try and guess.
Ironically, in some of the past few episodes I’ve watched, the person leading into final jeopardy has done there wager where if they got it correct, they would win by a dollar. However, they got the final jeopardy clue incorrect, and lost money. Thus, in the end the ended up losing by a dollar. That, to me, is JUSTICE.
Well, only 5 days to go.
Go Sox!!!
P.S. Anybody else experience a slower than normal internet? Especially here at mlblogs? The wrath of Conficker.c?
Surprise in Sox Camp
Looks like the Red Sox are going to have a surpise in camp in the next couple of days:
With the BIG upset (twice) by Netherlands against the Dominican Republic, Big Papi David Ortiz, will be back in Fort Myers much earlier than expected.
I have caught bits and pieces of some of the WBC games, but today was the first time I got to see almost a complete full game. And what a game it was!! I tell ya, I LOVE pitching duels in baseball. I prefer a good 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, game over a 9-7, 12-11 game any day. This 2nd game between the DR and Dutch was exactly a classic pitching duel game.
After 10 innings, the DR and Netherlands were locked in a 0-0 game. A misplay by former major leaguer Eugene Kinsale allowed the Domincans to get on the board. It looked like this would be all that would be needed for a DR victory with Cubs’ closer Carlos Marmol ready to close it out. However, the Netherlands improbably scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 11th (the 2nd on an error by Rays Willy Aybar) to advance to the next round and knock out DR in the process. Unbelievable to watch!
Pedro Martinez looked impressive in 3 shut-out innings. He did hit a batter and strike out a few, but I can’t find a box score yet to see the rest of his line. Hopefully, his WBC performance leads to a team signing him. I loved Pedro when he wore Red Sox uniforms. He is one of my all-time favorite games, and if healthy, I think he can still be a quality starting pitcher.
In Red Sox news, apparently NOT SO FAST with that long-term contact with Jon Lester. While watching the WBC game on MLB, the scroll across the bottom said that Lester agreed to a 1-yr contact and has stated he knows nothing about a long-term contract. Interesting. 90% of time, these reports of contracts and other such that are broken are reliable, but apparently this is not the case with Lester? Hopefully, they do lock Lester up for the next few years, however, I guess we should be careful about counting our eggs.
Go Sox!
Congrats to the Rays
Well, it’s the top of the 7th. 2 men are on base as the Sox are down
5-0, and Papelbon is in the game. Looks like the inevitable is upon us.
You have to give them all the credit in the world. The Rays can pitch,
can hit, can run. They’ve done everything, while the stifled the Red
Sox in every possible way.
Kazmir was our only hope, but Maddon had faith in him.
I’m
sure the Fox executives are crying in their beer at this moment. Their
dream match up of the Red Sox and Dodgers have been flushed down the
toilet. No Mannywood triumphantly returning to Fenway Park.
You won’t here any excuses from me. The
better team won, definitely won this series. The only thing in doubt, is who is the ALCS MVP. Is it
BJ Upton? Is it Evan Longoria? Can’t go wrong with either one. However,
I think Fox’s Ken Rosenthal is already preparing a column, just in case
it is not Upton. Actually, he just doubled in 2 more runs. That should
seal it…the MVP I mean.
Go Sox! Next year though. I’m going to hit the hay.
Against the Ropes
On a side note, there was a nice piece in today’s USA Today about some legendary play-by-play guys. Vin Scully and Harry Kalas are broadcasting legends. I can remember NBC Saturday Baseball games manned by Scully and Joe Garagiola, not too mention the many World Series games he’s called. I was more familiar with Harry Kalas as the narrator for a lot of the NFL Films productions, with his unique voice. While dating my wife, and the many times I drove to her place, for some reason the local Boston AM station wouldn’t come in (mind boggling), but somehow I could pick up 1210 AM out of Phillie, and hear Kalas call the Phillies games for part of the ride. To me, these are the voice of baseball, along with Mel Allen who I knew mostly from This Week in Baseball. How about that? Anyway, a nice piece to take a look at.Time to Panic? I think not!
It’s been a busy week, both for me and for baseball. Sorry for the absence of posts, however, I was helping the little woman prepare the house for a party in celebration of our daughter’s 1st Birthday / Baptism which took place on Sunday. The event was a success, while the Patriots game later that night was not a success.
Anyway, a lot has happened. The Phillies are on the verge of returning to the World Series for the first time since 1993 (oh Mitch Williams, your redemption may come) after taking a 3 – 1 series lead over the Dodgers. Game 3 of the series provide a weak attempt at recreating the Red Sox – Rays brawl from this summer. It was another humorous square dancing event, rather than a fight.
Meanwhile, our beloved Red Sox started out great, shutting out the Rays in Game 1 behind a great pitching performance by Dice-K. Red Sox fans had visions of a 3 game to zero lead in their head with Beckett and Lester to follow, but the Rays bats through in a monkey wrench. Tampa’s offense came alive with back-to-back games of 9 runs, bashing 7 HRs in the processes, reducing Beckett and Lester to the likes of John Wasdin and Matt Young (minus the walks).
Meanwhile (I feel like the narrator from the old Batman TV series with all of these meanwhiles), the Red Sox lumber have seem to take an extended slumber. Aside from Pedroia (.545), Youkilis (.429), and Bay (.455) not another batter is batting above .250. Ellsbury, Ortiz, and Varitek are all hitless in the series.
Should we be worrying? History says no. We all remember 2004, down 3 games to zero to the Yankees, don’t we? How about 2007 where we were down 3 games to 1 to the Indians and had to face their 2 best pitchers in games 6 and 7? So, being down 2 games to 1 while troublesome, is not worrisome on the whole.
Tonight, we have Tim Wakefield slated to start against Andy Sonnanstine in Game 4. In 3 starts this season versus TB, Wakefield is 0-2 with a 5.87 ERA. The Red Sox have lost all 3 of those games. Sonnanstine, in 2 starts, is 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA. He has given up only 7 hits, 2 walks and 2 Unearned runs in 13 innings while Tampa has won both of those games. So, looking at those numbers, it doesn’t look good for tonight.
However, so far in these 3 games, nothing has really gone as anticipated. I mean, how many people predicted that Jacoby Ellsbury and David Ortiz would combine for zero hits and 1 RBI in the 3 games? Would you be surprised if Wakefield went 8 innings of 3 hit baseball? Well, maybe! There is still lots of baseball to be played, and lots of thing could be happen. That one thing that would truly be surprising, though, is if Ortiz finishes the series still without a hit.
Go Sox!
Sweet & Sour
Sundays are great days to be a sports fan in New England. You get a dose of the Sox and the Patriots. Last Sunday was great, because you had the Sox at 1:35, and when they finished around 4:00pm it was almost time for kick-off between the Pats and Jets. You can’t beat a doubleheader like that, especially when it’s a sweep. We all know the difficulty of sweeping a twin bill.
This weekend, though, didn’t go quite as planned. While the Sox help up their end of the bargian, and clinched a tie for the wild-card in the process, that Pats fell flat on their face.
Nobody, except for Chad Pennington’s mother (seems we’ve been hearing a lot from QB’s mothers lately, Hi Mrs. Young, Hi Mrs. Jackson), could have expected this. Luckily, I did not really get a chance to full watch this game, as I was preparing for my son’s 4th birthday party. I got to take a detour and avoid seeing the wreckage. All I can really say is that this is going to be a long two weeks for the Patriots.
Last night was the final game at Yankee Stadium. As a baseball fan, I MUST visit the Stadium before they tear it down this winter. Unfortunately, I will never get to see a baseball game from a seat inside the stadium. However, with the history that has taken place there, I am going to do my best to take a tour of it. I’m actually glad the Yankees were able to win their final game, but how strange is it that Johnny Damon almost went down as the last player to hit a home run in the “House That Ruth Built”?
The last week is shaping up to be a fun one for MLB. With the Rays, Angels, and Red Sox all lined up for the playoffs, we get to watch the Twins-White Sox battle for the Central division starting Tuesday. Meanwhile, we have the Phillies-Mets battling in the East; the Dodgers-Diamondbacks battling in the West; and the Mets-Brewers-Astros fighting for the Wild Card. This is why I love baseball.
Also, we have Dustin Pedroia looking up at Joe Mauer in the race for the batting crown. Ever since appears on WEEI’s The Big Show, Pedroia has been in such a slump. He must have chowed down some of the free food that is always in the studio, thus slowing down his swing. I think Big O was trying to morph Pedroia into the same shape of himself, as Big O was a bit jealous of Pedroia being taller than him. Anyway, Pedroia is at .324 while Mauer has taken over the lead with a .330 average. Pedrioa has also seen Ichiro catch him for league lead in hits, both have 204 coming into the final week.
Congrats to Jonathan Papelbon for becoming the 5th Red Sox closer to reach 40 saves in a season. He joined Jeff Reardon, Ugueth Urbina, Tom Gordon, and Derek Lowe. Quite an accomplishment.
Finally, I’ve noticed that Red Sox seem to have a unique starting OF now and again. I am not sure there has been another one like it, and not even sure how to research it. However, when the Sox acquired Mark Kotsay before the end of August, they were able to put out a starting OF where all 3 OFers last name end in the letter Y. Jason Bay, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Kotsay. I wonder if there has been anything similar with rarely used letters. I bet maybe it has been done with U. Oh well, just a random thought.
Final week of the season. GO SOX!
GremEQ
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