Cursed To First - Sox and Pats forever.

When cultures collide

When cultures collide, originally uploaded by ConfessionalPoet.

That's about my only remaining observation on the Phillies series, except to say, clearly JD Drew has been secretly kidnapped and replaced with a pod person. Or maybe that's what happened last year.

Pitchers Hitting

Interleague play can be a drag for many reasons, but pitchers hitting isn't one of them. In fact, as your resident pitching junkie I relish watching pitchers, normally so graceful and in command, flail around like newborn calves when handed a bat and told to stand in the box.

With few exceptions (Josh looks as skilled and surly with a bat in his hands as he does on the mound), American League pitcher + hitting = funny. Even if he does strand two men in scoring position, like Bartolo Colon did tonight in the fourth inning.

Because, you see, for the squandered scoring opportunities, Bartolo paid us back in entertainment, swinging so wildly and blindly on Cole Hamels' second pitch that his helmet came flying off. Steve had just gotten done telling me how ridiculous Bartolo had looked last time he'd seen him hitting, but this was something new. "His helmet never came off before!"

Even Hamels put his glove over his face for a few seconds at one point during Bartolo's at-bat to laugh before he could deliver the next pitch. As for us, it was two passes back over Bartolo's at-bat on the TiVo before we calmed down enough to hear what Remy and Orsillo were saying. Which was a classic moment in itself:

Remy: Well, we'll see if Bartolo Colon, now with two men in scoring position, cuts down on his swing a little bit. I don't think he will. I just have a feeling it's kinda like, I'm gonna let it fly and if I hit it, hopefully it'll go somewhere.

Orsillo: This...is my swing. He struck out swinging first time up. Did he go, they check, no. He's able to hold off on that big swing this time Brian Knight says, first base umpire.

Remy: How about the misfortune for the Yankees? Chien-Ming Wang.

Orsillo:Yes.

Remy: Running the bases.

Orsillo: Could be four to six weeks they say today.

Colon takes a Mirabelli-sized rip at the changeup. (It doesn't...! Get...! Old...!)

Remy and Orsillo together: WOW.

Orsillo: Everything leaving that time including the helmet. That's some kind of cut.

Remy: Well, he was fooled on the changeup. He is geared up for every fastball you could possibly be geared up for. And just a tad off balance on that changeup.

Orsillo: Swing and a miss, one and two. He's gonna hurt himself.What if he connects on one of these?The one two.

Remy: Wow.

Orsillo: Colon strikes out. Everything was leaving and so was he.

Remy: That was ugly.

And thank goodness for that comic relief, because otherwise this game has been a disaster. Currently it's the seventh inning, it's 8-2, and Oki is warming up because he's the bottom of the barrel now in this brave new world of 2008, where up is down, left is right, and JD Drew is the big Sox slugger...

Catching up on 'The Catch'

(AP photo)

Or, more accurately, 'The High-Five.' It's up at redsox.com, it's up at Center Field (complete with teammates' review of the video in the dugout)...it's everywhere. Which is a good thing, because I missed it when it actually happened Wednesday night.

That must have been the best moment of that fan's life. Can you imagine cheering for a nice catch from Manny one moment, and then having him come over the wall at you for a high five the next? And then follow that up by turning around and doubling a guy off at first base? It's like something out of those commercials Larry Bird and Michael Jordan used to make for MacDonald's. "Make this catch, give this guy a high five, get that guy out, nothing but net."

P.S. Texas Gal has totally saved my life by also posting video of that Beckett press conference. Yuss.

P.P.S. Joy of Sox has an interview with the high-fivee.

Papelbon dance takes a turn for the alarming

During yesterday's loss to the Minnesota Twins, we were graced with the first Rem-Dawg and Orsillo giggle fit of the season, this one over some truly jaw-dropping footage of the Red Sox dancing. Instead of hilarious drunken victory dances, though, the Sox, with the exception of Mike Lowell, were embarrassing themselves attempting to dance for real, with ballroom dancers shipped in for the occasion.

The NESN duo were obsessed with Dustin's insane shirtlessness, with the word DADDY spelled out on his chest in Magic Marker, which I'll grant was pretty out of control. But I reserved most of my horrified fascination for Mr. Papelbon.

Tom Brady, dudes

From the ingenious e-card collection at someecards.com.

Soxmas Part 3

Soxopoly pieces, originally uploaded by ConfessionalPoet.

Got this from my parents for a present today. It's the 2007 World Champions edition of Monopoly, or should I say, Soxopoly. We played it for a while after dinner. Call me a sucker, but I was definitely amused by the properties being players and the little references, like the "get out of jail free" card changed to "Papelbon closes out the game." Also, Josh Beckett was Boardwalk, of which I approve.

Early Soxmas

Look what came for me this weekend!

Astute readers may notice that the DVD for World Series Game 1 is missing in this photo. That's because it's already in my DVD player. (I didn't start with Game 5 because I've already been re-watching that one on TiVo for months.)

Things you think about in the virtual waiting room

Anyone else notice what the team logos spell out?

I Stand Corrected

Apparently, Mr. Beckett did dance, and I missed it. As always, Texas Gal has the video. And a screencap:

The dance is...minimal. And entirely more awkward than I had imagined. And definitely kind of a cop-out because he darn well knows we were expecting full-on jigging with Papelbon in City Hall Plaza.

But I guess when you throw in the lurching Frankenstein-steps, the goofy grin and the hollering drawl you could cut with a knife, I might be convinced to call it even. Josh just has a very different dorky-celebration style from Jonathan, is all.

He did the jig on Letterman