Why does “YAY! Jason Giambi!” sound really wrong?

Lets get this out of the way. Like a timeout, its over faster if you just get it done now.

OK… Go to YouTube
Type in “Barbie Girl”
Watch this until you begin to bang your head into the wall.
When your head is bleeding, keep going.
Once the concussion sets in, you’re free to go.
This is the punishment we should all endure for the massive fail from the pitching last night.
I’ll get to that in a second.
First thing’s first… theres something we really need to talk about.
Is the National League really this much easier?
What on earth is going on here?
Why did Smoltz and Penny both completely make opposing teams wet themselves during their debut?
It makes no sense!
There are a few explanations but I’m not sure I like their implications:
A) National League hitters suck.
B) National League pitchers don’t generally pound the inside corner.
C) National League is where washed up pitchers go to shine.
Lets break down what’s wrong with these…
A) Ok, first off… NO. Albert Pujols, done.
Also, the team Penny shut down last night… was THE PHILLIES.
C’mon now… Ryan Howard, Shane Victorino, Raul Ibanez, Jason Weyrth, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley… Really? I don’t see how this works.
B) While this IS the most viable option I don’t see how this works. Look at what happens when Lincecum or Lee gets messed up. These pitchers entirely rely on pitches that break both ways. I’m sure they pound the inside quite a bit. Also, if this were true, wouldn’t all NL pitchers going to the AL completely fall flat on their face?
What about the recent domination of Billy Wagner? How do you explain this?
What about C.C. Sabathia? Anyone?
Josh Beckett? (Despite the recent bluh)
Curt Shilling? 
Yeah… that’s what i thought.
C) N-O. There are small things that change a pitcher, and while this may work initially because hitters aren’t used to them, it won’t turn out well in the long run.
Notice Marquis this year for the Rockies, he changed teams but he’s not pounding out everyone. He didn’t move league
Also George Sherill is in no way washed up, nor is Huston Street.
So someone please explain this to me?
My theory: Penny had 11 days of rest, his next start will suck. 
Smoltz was VERY CLEARLY tipping pitches. I’ve seen the clip reels. His grip FACED the batter in Boston.
Ok… enough of this gibberish. Time to get to better things:
FYI: Bigger topics get better treatment so you’ll notice a flipping of who I mention first based on what happened during the games.
Colorado: Ew… It Smells Like Yankee

giambi9-2.jpg
Scruffy is now officially part of the Rockies. Good job Scruffy.
Anyway. Eliminating the fact that Yankee players make me want to throw large blunt objects at random strangers, I think I’ll be getting around to liking this one.
In order to avoid using his name. I’ll refer to him as the person he looks most like: Scruffy from Futurama.
Scruffy comes in to pinch hit with the bases loaded. I didn’t expect much. Actually, All I was looking for was a sac fly. Instead, Scruffy lined it over the second baseman for a two RBI double. Thats production folks.
Anyway. The mets continued to get destroyed as Jiminez the Slayer continued to mow down the opposition despite some control issues along the way.
Seth Smith, aka The Best Pinch Hitter in Baseball, showed us again that he happens to have magical clutch powers. We already know his batting goes up in the clutch, which defies all logic, but we got to see it again tonight with a nice home run to CENTER FIELD. Jeez, center field at Coors? Thats deep. Nobody hits there.
Tonight, the ace Marquis comes on. I’m rooting for you (and so are my fantasy points… help me win my last matchup!)
Boston: Guys? Are We Getting Lazy?
beckett9-2.jpg
So it has come to my attention we have a mystery on our hands folks. I first notice this on Ms. Jane Heller’s blog. 
AJ Burnett has disappeared from the world of aces. 
BUT WAIT… this doesn’t seem to be an isolated incident. We seem to have a pandemic. This is bigger than Swine Flu. This is Ace Flu.
It isn’t a disappearance of an ace. I believe AJ Burnett has contracted the Ace Flu.
Look at the others who have contracted the ace flu:
Josh Beckett
Roy Halladay
Chad Billingsly
Mark Buehrle
and recent possible cases:
Cliff Lee’s horrendous outing
J.A. Happ’s total misstep to the Giants
Carlos
Zambrano struggles
Jarrod Washburn’s current problems
Folks… I know two people we need to talk to who have been steadily recovering from the Ace Flu. I believe these three were the source and they passed it along but they now seem to be getting better.
Barry Zito has had a BAD case of the Ace Flu for awhile now, but in the second half he seems to be shutdown.
Scott Kazmir seems to have gotten over it.
Ervin Santana is on the road to recovery as well recently.
We should be looking at these three, taking blood samples, and making a vaccine for this NASTY illness.
Enough of my rambling… lets get back to the more important matter
THE PEN SEEMS TO BE HALF ASLEEP
(not talking to you Wagner, Papelbon)
Beckett’s situation was explained above, but the club decided they weren’t going to let him lose again and they starting hitting runs like it was nobody’s business. THEN THE PROBLEMS ENTERED. I guess someone had to wake up Delcarmen and Ramirez prior to bringing them to the bullpen to warm. 
They came out on the mound and pitched like they were hung over.
Lets fix this guys….
Anyway…
Tonight its Boy Wonder and the 2009 Red Sox vs David Price and the 2011 Red Sox. 
Clay has been solid lately, and I’d definitely like to see more of that. 
ALSO… i’m pretty sure the Rays aren’t familiar with Clay’s pitching. This works with the Yanks, lets see if it works in Tampa.
The bats seem to be hot lately, so I think we have a VERY VERY good shot to win this series.. I expect it. Lets get our stuff together.
Avoiding Swine Flu,
-Mike

I think my Tulo shirt is good luck o.o

I am freaking out
Two wins in a night, I’m pumped for this. It seems every time I wear my Tulowitzki shirt, my teams have awesome wins. Maybe I should buy 6 more of those shirts so I can wear them everyday. People would start to get curious at work. Probably shouldn’t do that.

I don’t know if you guys remember my story of that huge Sox winning streak, and how I refused to wear anything other than a Sox shirt (although I DO have 5 Sox shirts, different shirts mind you). That’d be way too hard with only one shirt for the Rox.

Anyway… lets get down to buisness

Boston: Look Who’s Back!

paps91.jpgI don’t know what you thought when Papelbon came in with the bases loaded in the 8th but I wasn’t exactly relaxing. Okajima had a rare terrible inning, giving up runs and loading the bases. Papelbon had other ideas.

Papelbon comes in and gets a 1-2-3 for him. To be fair, Ellsbury made a terrific diving catch in shallow center unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Then again, its Ellsbury, why am I surprised?

9th Inning and what do you know: ANOTHER 1-2-3 FROM PAPS. I’m astounded. So
astounded I may have to wear my Papelbon jersey even though it’s like 90 degrees outside.

Guess what we can do folks? We can take the rays out of the race for good this season.  Oh yeah, that’s no joke. I’m hoping for this.

If only we could take out Texas in the process.

TONIGHT…. Beckett. I hope for October Beckett, mostly because the current Beckett is not amusing me. The Current Beckett, who I shall dub FailBeckett, is seriously not helping me. He is giving me cardiac arrest during games because of his pitching, and he is killing my fantasy baseball stats. Not cool man.

Colorado: Wildcard? Anyone?

Gonzales91.jpg

Holy crap. I mean holy crap in the best sense.

So above, we see Mr. Gonzales.
Yes.
Hello there Carlos.
Are you ok?
Are you done dropping steak knives on your hand?
You are?
Ok good. Lets get back to the game.

Carlos was back in within a few innings. Two run jack. Yeah I think he’s still got it.
(He’s on my fantasy team for the final stretch, he better still have it)

Helton followed up later with his own dinger. No, not the stupid purple dinosaur mascot.

Carlos had the more impressive one. It didn’t float. It was a PURE LINE DRIVE to the upper deck in right. That’s power folks. No disputing

De La Rosa scared the hell out me for about. ONE INNING.
He gave up two runs and i proceeded to sweat profusely.
Then the inning ended and De La Rosa got slapped in the head by someone. Probably Apodaca or Tracy.
For the next 5 innings he held the Mets to ONE HIT.
Brilliant.
That’s recovery. That’s calming down. Every pitcher should be able to do that.

TONIGHT… Jiminez, the crazy power ace. Two duels with Lincecum in his last two starts, Did awesomely in both but only won one of them. He should have some fun with this Mets lineup.

ANYWAY:

In other news… I root for the Phils this week, with the exception of the one game Zito starts. I hope the Giants lose AFTER Zito exits because he’s on my fantasy roster.

Cole Hamels pitched up a storm, two hitting the giants and putting the Rockies up one game. Nice. I expect more of this brilliance until you play Colorado. Then slump, I’ll be superhappy.

Lets see some butt kicking tonight. I’ve got my TV and PC set up next to each other and you bet I’ll be watching both games at the same time.

Three hours of Anthropology today is going to make my brain explode,
-Mike

VISUAL CHANGES!

Yeah, you may have noticed some visual flair all up in my blog.

You gots ta get up in there.
I’m never talking like that again. *vomits*
Ok, so new logo, new coverage, new me.
Ryan didn’t seem like he was gung-ho for posting (I think its because the cubs died halfway through the first half)
So here I am. Being killed by school and I think…
Well damn, I should do this all by myself.
After all. Watching two baseball games a night is the leading cause of me not getting anything done! I might as well add to that uselessness by posting nightly on two teams as well! Yipee!
In all seriousness: Lets talk about the upcoming series and why they are both extremely important for the respective teams.
Sox V. Rays:
Lets lead off with this:
Tampa beat the living daylights out of Justin Verlander. That bothers me.
Boston isn’t traditionally good against Tampa… at least not this year. This series is a big build or bust type thing. Red Sox win this and it can serve as a catalyst to completely destroy the other teams (*hint* Yankees *hint*). If they lose, they usually end up slumping. The bats are alive, the pitching rotation seems fine (save for Beckett) and the pen got better.
Hope for the series:
1) Josh Beckett doesn’t stay down. I expect a good start. I’m going to start him on my fantasy team because I believe in Beckett. I don’t have the exact same Phiten necklace he has for nothin’!
2) Clay gets better as things get crazier. Maybe its the playoff chase that has him excited but he looks like he wants to win now.
3) Alex Gonzales? This guy is pretty good. He’s hitting well and playing defense like a pro. (Sorry Nick Green, you know I cherish your defense too)
4) V-Mart. Big man with the big bat.
5) Billy Wagner. If things look like they did in Toronto, this beast is going to eat some souls when he pitches.
ANYWAY. LETS CONTINUE!
Rockies v Mets
A slumping mets team injury ridden could possibly be the best thing for the Rox right now. They just found their swing, and should they keep it, this will serve as a nice wildcard boost. On the other hand, the Giants are forced to face the Phillies, who are looking pretty good.
The Rockies have a slightly nicer schedule at this point in time, while the Giants have 2 series against LA, 2 against Arizona, and 1 more against us. I expect them crushed.
Also, I wish Brad Penny great misfortune in SF. His loss is Colorado’s gain. 
Don’t say I didn’t warn you SF…
More on these games as they happen tomorrow
I’m now working my job in TWO (yes two) schools instead of one.
One of the schools is 15 minutes from the other. Oh well. 
On the plus side, they are both quite awesome.
Also. My TV died on me. Had to get a rental or I’d miss the Rox games. The Sox stuff I can get on my PC because its out of market (MLB.tv for the win) but Rox is local, so I don’t get it.
EARLY CLASSES ARE TOO EARLY!,
-Mike

Red Sox Road Woes, Rockies Gun Shows, and Other Ridiculous Junk

Shame on you Red Sox.
Is there logically any reason you should’ve kept Smoltz and Penny. Penny was a logical trading tool before the deadline, now his value slowly declines. Smoltz… well you know this much.
8 ER tonight.

Here was my night:
no no No No NO NO NO! NO!

Yep. Had there been decent pitching, we would’ve won. Quality or EVEN DECENT pitching would’ve done it.
6 runs is generally good enough run support for a decent pitcher.
Giving up 8 runs, is nowhere near decent.

ANYWAY… I’ve been in school (accelerated classes for summer credits) so I’ve been swamped. I apologize for not letting anyone know this ._.

Good god things have changed.
V-Mart rules. I know this much.

Lets start from the top:

Sox Thoughts:
Really guys? Really.
I saw some mistakes…
I saw Saito not walking Longoria with two outs in extras.
I saw Smoltz being kept on the active roster.
I saw CLAY BUCHHOLZ being warmed up in the bullpen… what??
I saw Adam LaRoche traded for Casey Kotchman (No offense Kotchman, but the trade was kind of stupid and meaningless, theres not a ton of difference between you two)
I saw Masterson go to the Indians (*cry*) [Now my autograph will be devalued]
I saw us aquire NOT aquire Orlando Cabrera when he was on the market
I saw us NOT aquiring more pen.
I saw Ortiz get busted for roids
I saw… I don’t know. Things I’m angry about.

Point is… this needs to stop at some point. Make it now. Please make it now.

Rockies Thoughts:
First thought: Why does Jason Marquis suck in MLB 2k9? For shame roster updates…

Anyway… For a team that started off like junk this year… I am very surprised. Playing like champs.

Tulo has his swing back.
The pitching staff is working!
Bullpen was aquirred!

I like how it looks, but San Fransisco is damn pesky right now.
Their offense doesn’t function worth a can of beans, but they have pitching. Its very annoying.
Someone cripple their entire pitching rotation please.

If I’m lucky… I’ll see them in the playoffs. (IF, big IF)
Lets hope for the best

To cap this all off….
The lovely people at Surviving Grady have provided me a video.
This video is posted on their site every time the Sox lose on their road trip.
Break the streak, get rid of the evil accordian man.
C’est la vie.

The Accordion of Fail

I’ll post a countdown later to make up for how painful that video is…

Always feels like… somebody’s watchin him,
-Mike

All Star Selectons! My Thoughts… (Part 1)

I made a lot of good predictions: But DAMN, I got real thrown off here…
American League:
Second Base: Dustin Pedroia
First Base: Mark Teixeira

I predicted this:
Second Base: Ian Kinsler
First Base: Kevin Youkilis

They were both in close races, but it flipped on me.
Well hey, at least Youk is an all star

Among those I called for (that weren’t superobvious)
American League:
Josh Beckett- P
Justin Verlander- P
Torii Hunter- OF Reserve
Ben Zobrist- OF/IF Reserve

National League:
Jason Marquis- P
Brad Hawpe- OF Reserve

Anyway lets get to this list thing:

American League:

C- Joe Mauer: Obvious choice, this guy is a baseball machine.
1B- Mark Teixeira- While he isn’t my first choice, he’s still quite good. Youk has a better OBP and gets those runs in much better. Tex has the advantage of a homer friendly park. Regardless, he’ll do good work
2B- Dustin Pedroia- Again, while I am a Sox fan, he isn’t my first choice here. In terms of defense, of course he’ll be shining here, but offensively Kinsler would’ve topped him here. The scrappy one can get on base enough to count, so heres to hoping he does
3B- Evan Longoria- I have mass respect for this guy. Beating out A-Rod by like a million votes. He is VERY good, and i dont say that lightly. Considering he’s a rook still, he’s got nowhere to go but up. Defense, offense, he’s just pretty solid.
SS- Derek Jeter- While he isn’t the BEST shortstop by stats, he was going to get it anyway. We all knew. He’s good enough to be there, and while he’s not the best he always gets the job done.
OF- Jason Bay- Can you say AL RBI leader? I can. He’s in a bit of a rut right now but he’s also an overall solid player. The guy is all around athletic and he can hit like a pro off the best out there. He can work left field very well in some tough plays.
OF- Ichiro Suzuki- This man defies physics. Don’t question me.
OF- Josh Hamilton- I like him but honestly? He’s been on the DL twice. Someone is gonna replace him.

Pitching (aka: my specialty section):
Andrew Bailey- I dont know a TON about this kid, but he’s solid enough from what i’ve seen.
Josh Beckett- Besides the first month of the season, check out his stats. Beckett has pretty much mowed down everyone. He was voted in by the PLAYERS. His era is a bit deceptive because of the bad first month. His month of June held a below 2.00 ERA with 4 wins. Besides his terrible first month, He has lost 1 time and won 7 since then. Solid.
Mark Buehrle- I’m the first to not be a ChiSox fan but statistics don’t lie 3.09 ERA with 8 wins. He’s definately got something. His last outing he ran 8.1 Innings with 1 ER. I’d say this would work for me.
Zack Greinke- If i need to explain this one beyond “someone must have spiked his water with crazy juice” then someone out there is stupid. He is a human steamroller with 120 strikeouts. Just accept that its very difficult to hit this pitcher.
Brian Fuentes- With the bevy of closers on this year’s list I’m not suprised at this selection 23 saves converted with only 3 blown, his ERA isn’t amazing but his work speaks for itself.
Roy Halladay- Probable starter. This man is also a baseball machine. 10-2 with a 2.79 ERA and 98 Strikeouts. Between him and Greinke, i’m not sure how the NL is getting any runs this year.
Felix Hernandez- Is anyone suprised here? 114 Strikeouts with 8 wins. I’m not surprised. This ridiculous piece of work had an ERA of 0.94 for the month of June. Crazy ****. He’s probably possesed by baseball ghosts.
Edwin Jackson- Out of left field this year. He’s done amazingly well and not many expected that. The tigers have been putting up a powerful game and it shows.
Joe Nathan- Another solid closer, he does his job well. When you get surprised let me know.
Jonathan Papelbon-  20 saves with a 1.75 ERA, again call me when you’re surprised.
Mariano Rivera- 10 time all-star, getting a little shakey with age but again, shoot me an email when you experience surprise.
Justin Verlander- YAY! Welcome back to interesting. After an off year he’s back in full force. 130 strikeouts and 8 wins speaks to this.
Tim Wakefield- How is this his first All Star visit? He’s been around forever. Well it’s been a great year for him. 10 wins puts him up there with Greinke and Halladay. Thats no mistake people, that knuckleball is dancing.

More on this later.
-Mike.

Where I’ve Been, Who I Root For, and Why It Matters.

Why Hello There!
Do you know where I’ve been? I barely do.
Anyway…
So… I’ve been jumping around computer to computer. Still watching a lot of baseball but somehow managing to be busy enough not to write. In the interest of making myself form habits, I am going to figure out a way to solidly get down entries.

In a sense, I’ve been in Limbo for about 2 or 3 months. Just make sure you don’t neglect me now that I’m actually here :D

You aren’t Red Sox 24/7 anymore?
Clear this and get this out of the way. Red Sox are still #1 for me
Now I have a second team, here’s my story:

Ever since I’ve been in Colorado, I’ve been entirely frustrated with the way the Rockies ran their games. I’ve been to enough to get angry when there were the most blank pitching decisions I’ve ever watched were made. Things I saw in Coors were simple awful. Rockies getting loads of talent like Spilbourghs, Tulo, Hawpe, Ianetta, Helton… you know the drill. Unfortunately, someone had the wish to project themselves onto a wall and didn’t use any of them to their full potential despite the capacity to do so… Lights, Camera, Action.

May 29th, 2009: Clint Hurdle is fired.
Jim Tracy is promoted.

I figure, what the hell, lets give them another shot.
I’d watched them on and off before, but I’ve always hated how they were run and therefore watching games turned into frustration and yelling matches with my television.
11 game win streak. (Yes, that matches the streak that got them to the world series)

Anyway… Thats no accident. As I say this they are 22-7 since Tracy took over.

I notice much more trust in the players, and the team overall has become much more cohisive. This is clearly no coincidence. This works. Boston is still the team I grew up with but now I don’t feel like a tool rooting for my home team as well.

Thank you Jim Tracy.

Why This Matters
Expect me to cover Rockies material much more now than before. I can cover two teams + 1 league. I’m good to go. Rawr.

Anyway… I have updates later on my trip to Boston.

This week: 2 Baseball games. I saw the Rockies in LA, and tonight I watch the Angels v. Baltimore for 4th of July.

The match brings up a problem: I don’t like either team.

Angels: I don’t want you in the ALDS,but at the same time, I also want the Yankees out of the ALDS. I might be rooting for the Angels tonight because they’re close to nudging the Yanks out of the wildcard. The catch 22 here is… Red Sox are 9 wins to the Yanks without a loss… If they get in theres a good chance of beating them. Alternatively I’d like to see Steinbrenner blow a gasket when his team his spent half his fortune on this offseason fails to even make the playoffs.

O’s: I’m sorry guys, not only are you in the same division as the Red Sox, but I seriously don’t have much to like about your team besides Markakis. I’m not 100% compelled watching you and frankly you’re doing awful.

If only the Sox were playing down here for the 4th.
Dang.

Finding time to write,
-Mike


I’m Back! =O

Holy ****!!! It’s been awhile. I’ve been doing a LOT of stuff since school left out and ……

oh nobody cares about that

Time to get down to business:

  • Josh Vitters: My favorite minor leaguer is destroying single-A pitching. Last time I checked he was at .333 w/ 13 Hrs….please don’t trade him away Hendry….unless you can acquire Halladay or maybe Peavy.
  • Jake Fox: Hit very well in the majors to go along w/ his triple crown leading minor league stats. Yet he got sent down so that Aaron Miles could get back on the roster…..thats just what we needed to help our hitting, send down the guy that was ACTUALLY hitting for a dude w/ no power and a sub .200 avg.
  • Extra Innings: WTF I’m getting sick of all these extra inning games not to mention we seem to suck when it gets past the ninth inning….we just really need A-Ram back so that we can score more than 1 run.
  • Starters: The starters are magical leading the League in ERA. :D
  • Relievers: Are a different story >_<
  • DLee: Starting to hit again. Hes been one of my fav. players since 2004 so it has been hard to see him struggling the past two years. He wasn’t too bad last year I’m just sad that his power has disappeared (**** you Furcal).
  • Bradley and Soto: Sigh
  • Ascanio and Guzman: <3
  • Division: This division is too close hopefully when we get healthy again we will pull away.
  • Red Sox: LOL YANKEES 0-7 (that was for you Mike)

I will post more often now. :)

-Ryan

Computer Troubles

First off, Congrats Papi on breaking out of that horrific no-homer streak.
Second, Congrats Penny, you didn’t suck!

The computer has been a bit on the fritz. I had to reformat and frankly, its a pain in the butt.

Its running smoothly, but its early and i can barely think.

I’m going to put some bullet points up for things you should expect to see:

* Yankees need to lose, FAST. I don’t like the sound of a winning streak.
* Toronto fell awfully fast considering they are Numero Uno in the AL East
* Wakefield gets better and better, its almost scary
* D-Train pitches up a storm, whoda thunk?
* Jason Varitek… 2009 = 2004 Redux?

Lets talk about this tomorrow morning when I’m awake.

Will be reminding my NL buddy he’s lacking postage lately,
-Mike

Sox Countdown | What We’ve Been Up To In My Absence

Lets get down to business, Top 3 get photos. I’ve been out for awhile and I figure theres a lot to talk about, so heres my way of saying. I’M BACK, HUZZAH.

HERE WE GO

5) Rocco Baldelli knows whats up
This man knows whats up… He’s athletic, hence his awesome diving catch vs the Indians. He can go deep with the long ball, hence his solo shot during the game with Tampa. He can hit for contact and get runs in, hence the RBI double that took the lead against the Indians. QUITE good. He’s a great cover for when J.D. Drew’s glass skeleton breaks again. He also is, by far, one of the better choices to give Jacoby Ellsbury some rest. When Jacoby is feeling it, he can play, but when he’s not Baldelli can step in and kick some butt. 
Majorly. Word.
4) Senor Lugo, where have you been until now?
He’s back kiddies. Julio Lugo. The REAL Julio Lugo, not that twerp who showed up at the beginning of the month coming off the DL and batting like he’d never seen a baseball before. This Julio Lugo is actually holding on to the ball instead of dropping it during a play and he is hitting the baseball! Dear lordy, I don’t see where this was a few series ago. Well, keep it up buddyboy.
3) Masterful Masterson
Masterson'sFinalStart?
Our boy might be back in the pen next week as Daisuke seems to be heading home soon. Masterson, we’re proud of you. You did better than most bullpen guys could coming up to fill some HUGE shoes. Thanks. We hope to see you back in your most dominant place. Completely destroying everything that moves between the 7th and 8th innings. Maybe someday, you’ll be back in the rotation, but to be quite frank, you’re way too awesome in the pen. Everywhere you are, you are awesome. Also, thank you for signing my baseball at spring training, that was cool.
2) Papelbon 5000
Papelboncrazy.jpg
Before I go into this, lets talk about why I titled this Papelbon 5000. I work at a school, and I tend to talk about baseball a LOT. One of the kids, after hearing about Papelbon so much, as he is my favorite Red Sox player, and I have his jersey (and wear it quite often), decided he’d assign a nickname. He now only mentions him as Papelbon 5000. 
ANYWAY…
Man, Papelbon is crazy. Look at that face. He’s gonna take someone down. Yes, he did take someone down when we played Tampa. He may have gotten two guys on base, but then it happened. The moment of truth. I don’t know, maybe a light turned on, maybe a spark flicked up, a flash of brilliance maybe. The old Papelbon re-emerged. Three STRAIGHT Strikeouts. Thats what’s up. The next outing he had was solid, albeit not quite as amazing. 
The biggest thing I noticed was, Papelbon was getting the high strike again. The rising fastball that made hitters swing came back. That was the ball the made Papelbon the dominant closer he was in the past, and seeing it come back made my day. 
Welcome back, Cinco Ocho
1) J-Bay, All The Way

J-BayTerminatorWalk
This man is a terminator. The terminator. If you are a pitcher. I would not pitch this man a fastball. He will send it VERY far away. You will not see that fastball again. The order of closers has a hit out on this man. He is dangerous, he is mysterious. 
He is… Jason Bay.
J-Bay has become the new definition of clutch. He’s hitting home runs where there should be no runs. He creates comebacks on his own. 
Also, now that Manny is out of the picture with that lovely 50 game suspension, the Red Sox have officially won. 
“Red Sox won what?” you ask. 
We have won the trade. Red Sox Nation is now reaping the better end of the trade. Jason Bay has not only outperformed Manny this year in his time with the sox, causing some miraculous wins and hitting homers like its nothing, but he’s not suspended for 50 games. 
I have two words: Epic Win.
Until I get my act together,
-Mike

Where are my entries? Roar.

Ok. So finals are finally over. Dammit, I did not intend that pun.

I have transitioned back to my baseball-all-the-time lifestyle.
Entries on their way.
Sorry for the lack of em’ 
Grades before Posting… you know how it is.
See you VERY soon (Papelbon is getting his own photo in my next post)
-Mike
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