Game Seventeen: Heck of a Way To Run A Railroad

In Boston last night, Adrien Beltre worked a walk in the 8th, scoring JD Drew with what proved to be the winning tally in a 4-3 triumph over the Orioles. A cynic might note that it should be a little bit easier than this to beat the Orioles. I don't want to be cynical, so I won't say that. But if you wanted to be cynical, you might note that.

Games Fifteen and Sixteen: ....And We're Back!

After 24 hours without home access to the Internet, which nearly killed me and certainly damaged many of you, I am back.

Very late Wednesday night, Our Man Youk slammed an RBI double in the bottom of the ninth to seal a 8-7 win over the Texas Rangers. However, former reliever and Newport Beach, CA native CJ Wilson flummoxed, flustered, and befuddled Red Sox hitters to the tune of 6 2/3 4 hit innings on Thursday to push the Red Sox back down to 6-10 on the year with a 3-0 loss.

Game Fourteen: Thievery is Afoot!

In Game 14, the Texas Rangers, a group usually best known for preventing thievery than for causing it, stole 9 bases (NINE), the most Boston has surrendered in a game since 1913 (NINETEEN THIRTEEN), and still lost, 7-6.

Spare part outfielder Darnell McDonald, who was called up when 2/3 of Boston's starting outfield went on the disabled list today, came through in fine fettle with a game tying home run and a game winning Wall single in the bottom of the ninth off of Frank "I Coulda Been A Closer" Francisco.

In the continuing interest of pretending to be relevant.

"I Love You", this week's entry in the Velvet Verbosity 100 Word Challenge, found here.






I love you.

A promise, isn't it?

“Love is when the welfare of another is indispensable to one's own,” Heinlein wrote.

Good definition. I quote it a lot.

I've said I love you. To 1 day old infants, to 90 year old women. To people I haven't seen in decades, to people I see every single day.

I always mean it.

I don't always feel worthy to make such a promise. I don't always feel I can do it-protect their interests and forget my own. I'm not sure I can do it.

But I say it. I say it.

Game Thirteen: Lackey Found Lacking

Another day, another loss. In the early morning sun, John Lackey was beaten like he stole something, giving up eight runs and not escaping the fourth inning in a 8-2 loss.

Sigh.

And, coming up next on the docket, we have...Bad Vlad and the rude boys from Tejas.

Double Sigh.

This may get ugly, cats and kittens.

Cardboard Gods

"Cardboard Gods: An All American Tale Told Through Baseball Cards"
by Josh Wilker
Seven Footer Press, March 2010


Wow.

I can tell a work has touched me when I am sad when it is over, that, in the words of a former work colleague, I will never get the chance to read it for the first time again. I can tell a work has really touched me when not only do I want it to continue, I want to be the creator-I'm so jealous of the author that I wish most of all to have that person's gift.

Both of these thoughts are filling my brain after finishing Wilker's "Cardboard Gods". Wilker, who blogs here, has collected pieces from his blog, expanded and revised and rewritten, into a gorgeous memoir of his confused boyhood in the 1970s. Each entry is centered on a particular baseball card, which is lovingly reproduced on the page, and some element of the card-the player's expression, or batting stance, or reputation, or the coloring of his background-leads Wilker into a fractured account of his life.

Wilker has a strong, clear voice, and while this may be the fact that he is nearly my age, and as besotted by baseball and its history and its numbers as I am, I utterly loved this book, even if I had encountered parts of it on his blog before. This is a simply gorgeous book, lovely and perfect and simple. You don't have to love baseball to enjoy it or understand it, but if you do, it will enhance your enjoyment.

Very, very, very highly recommended.

Game Twelve: Garzastic!

In game 12 of the 2010 baseball season, the Red Sox' season can be amply summed up by the bottom of the fifth inning.

Trailing 4-0 on a long home run by Northeastern's Carlos Pena on top of the camera position in deep center and an RBI single by Tampa's Swiss Army knife of an infielder, Ben Zobrist, Boston opened the fifth with not only no runs, but also no hits. Emblematic.

Adrien Beltre, import from the West Coast, hammers a 2-2 Matt Garza pitch off of the Wall. Well, at least we don't get a no hitter thrown at us, at home in the drizzling, miserable cold. But what's this? Tampa's Carl Crawford, channeling Yastrzemski for a moment, barehands the ball, and guns down Beltre at second. Game, set, match.

Boston sputters to a 7-1 loss, and is now 4-8 on the year.

One more with Tampa tomorrow.

Games 10 and 11: Well kick my butt, and call me Josephine...

In Boston yesterday, the Red Sox apparently were having a two for one sale on losses, as they dropped the conclusion of a suspended game from Friday night, then dropped the actual scheduled Saturday game, managing to hone to perfection the "one run less than we need" strategy that is becoming a theme of the 2010 season.

After tying Tampa and their wunderkind Wade Davis 1-1 through 9 frames, former Phillie and missing man Pat The Bat Burrell wielded his bat and clubbed a two run shot off of old friend MDC to claim a 3-1 victory for the Naughty Fish.

Not happy with just ruining Game 10, Burrell ruined Game 11 for Boston by clubbing a bases loaded double in the very first inning off of a very shaky Cowboy Clay Buchholz. Boston would rally late, eventually losing 6-5 to push their record to an unlovely 4-7.

Boston plays Tampa again today, and then one final time on Marathon Monday, the famous Patriots' Day early start. Their next win is scheduled for May 14.