Mirror image

I'm sure that Mrs. Iain would nod her head in agreement if she read this article. The details are slightly different - I became obsessed long after we got married, and I monopolise the PC rather than the TV - but the essence is the same.

Last night I nodded off on the sofa around 10pm, only to wake with a start around 1:15am. Before my brain could begin to form any rational thoughts of actually going to bed, my primeval baseball instinct immediately kicked in and started yelling: "Red Sox playing Tampa Bay! Red Sox playing Tampa Bay!" So I settled in to watch the game on NESN (via MLB.TV), and this is where the article rings true in our household:

In the meantime, I wake at night to find the television on -- extra innings on the West Coast -- and I look forward to the end of the season when my husband's normal personality returns and I get to choose a TV show.

Mrs. Iain came to see why the light was on in the living-room at 2am and found me staring miserably at the wrong end of a 5-0 scoreline. The exchange went something like this:

Mrs. Iain: It's after 2 - what're you doing?
Iain: Erm, watching the Red Sox.
Mrs. Iain: But it's a Tuesday night in August - don't you usually watch those early-morning games only in October?
Iain: Usually, yeah, but it's the, erm, Devil Rays.
Mrs. Iain: ...??
Iain: Big game - we need to beat these guys.
Mrs. Iain: OK, well, goodnight.
Iain: G'night. See you... later.

And so I stuck it out, to the not-so-bitter end at sometime after 4am. I'm falling asleep at the keyboard here, but hey - we won!

Obsession: not just a fragrance by Calvin Klein.

You still here?

You can put this straight into the "Who gives a sh*t?" file.

It's been a Bonds-free season in Major League Baseball, and I have to say that I like it, because life is simpler when he's not around - no "Will they pitch to him?", no "Will he he catch Hank?", no "Did he take banned substances?", no "Will he speak to the press?"

So Barry, take your time - contrary to what the Dixie Chicks said, without you we are OK.

The dance

Beth has a wonderful piece up on her blog about last night's game at Fenway. What I love about Beth's blog is that it's not always (in fact, very seldom) about the nuts and bolts of the game - the runs, the hits, the strikeouts. Last night she found herself looking beyond the action at the plate, and in so doing manages to turn a wet, Monday-night blowout against the Devil Rays into something timeless:

I had begun, meanwhile, to watch things other than the plate--I watched the fielders, their surprisingly precise movements, the way they'd sway in unison on the pitch, then return to their habitual between-pitch fidgeting, this guy drawing circles in the dirt with his feet, this guy windmilling his arms, this guy cracking his neck and snapping his gum.

People often decry this dawdling between pitches and between plays as a fault of baseball, a way in which the sport is boring and useless. Maybe if you're watching on TV, it's worse. But watching at the ballpark...last night I saw there is nothing more beautiful. They're like dancers; they have the same stylized, subtle muscular movements. The different permutations of the ensemble enacting this pantomime are tantalizing--now a man on third, scratching with his feet around the plate like a dog marking his territory. Now two men on, first and second, leaning and jumping toward the next base with the pitch. It's like a dance. Like something that exists only for itself, not as part of a game with strategies and a greater outcome.

There really is nothing more to be said.

Kiss my a**

David Wells may be many things, but shy and retiring is not one of them. After Major League Baseball upheld the six-game suspension handed down to Wells for his ridiculous ejection on July 2, Wells had a few choice words for the powers-that-be.

In cases like this, the player's club is usually quick to distance itself from the player's remarks, but I do feel that the Red Sox went above and beyond the call of duty in their apology to the commissioner's office:

"The comments made by David today regarding the commissioner of baseball do not in any way reflect the views of the club," the Red Sox said in a statement. "The club believes the commissioner has demonstrated visionary leadership and integrity, and we recognize that his contributions to the game have been enormous. Thus, we apologize to the commissioner."

Visionary leadership and integrity? Quick, somebody call Dan Roche!

2 down, 23 to go

Mark Bellhorn has become the second of the 25 players who helped the Red Sox win the Series to sign with the Yankees.

His utility glove will be a good addition for the Yankees, but unless he undergoes some kind of amazing David Banner-like transformation, I don't think this move will strike fear into the hearts of Red Sox fans. In fact, it'll be nice to see him up at the plate doing his strikeout thing and not want to stab myself in the eye with a very sharp pencil.

Update: True to form, Surviving Grady imagines Bellhorn's arrival in New York.

Observation No. 9

Women wearing baseball caps, sat in the ballpark and drinking beer? Mmmmmmmm - lovely!

They're not in Kansas any more

But that didn't stop the Royals coughing up a four-run lead in the ninth inning against the Yankees. Way to go, guys - you go back on another of those historic losing streaks. Thanks for nothing.

On a related note, ex-Red Sox reliever Alan Embree pitched the ninth inning for the Yankees. It was the first time I've seen him since he left Boston, and it would appear that his move to the Yankees and his clean-shaven appearance gives him a new, classier aura - the Royals broadcasters spent the whole of the inning calling him 'Em-bray', like he was some tobacco-chewing French aristocrat. I'm going to tune in to tomorrow's game to see if they remain true to form and start calling the Yankee captain Derek 'Je-tay'...

Royal pain in the ass

Even with a recovering Curt Schilling on the mound, we should still be able to kick the crap out of Kansas City, right? Well, wrong, actually. And just you watch - the Royals will now revert to form and lie down and let the Yankees walk all over them this weekend.

As for the Sox, they have 10 games coming up against the Tigers, the Devil Rays and the Orioles - 3 teams under .500 and going nowhere. They need to go 7-3 or else I'll...I'll...I'll...well, I'll not be best pleased. So there...

Productive out

Play-by-play from the Mets-Diamondbacks game last night:

[Bases loaded, 1 out] Carlos Beltran grounds into double play, second baseman Craig Counsell to first baseman Conor Jackson to shortstop Royce Clayton to first baseman Conor Jackson to shortstop Royce Clayton to pitcher Russ Ortiz. Ramon Castro scores. Jose Reyes scores. Kazuo Matsui out at 2nd.

That's a 4-3-6-3-6-1 double-play - with the ball never leaving the infield - on which the Mets scored two runs! Check it out.

WTF?

Well, Kevin Millar finally hit a home run, but that's about as good as it gets, I'm sorry to say. Pretty much all you need to know about the game can be summed up in three short phrases:

13 men left on base.
Against the Kansas City Royals.
Who are the worst team in baseball.

Bleurgh.

Team player

It's not easy to be in a position where fans of your team are openly calling for you to be benched (even when the most casual baseball fan can see that it's probably high time that someone else played in your position), which makes Kevin Millar's reaction to his benching all the more admirable. Millar has made it clear - sometimes quite vocally - that he would like to be playing all the time, but in a strange kind of way his reaction to the news shows exactly why he is valuable to this Red Sox team:

''This is not about me. This is not about ego. I think my teammates have been behind me through this whole thing. I think my manager has been behind me in this whole thing, and they still are.

''But right now, John Olerud is too good a player and swinging the bat too well. This is definitely what's best for us right now."

[...]

"Believe me, I've tried to battle through this. I'm not going to quit and I want to play every day, but right now until I produce, do you put John Olerud in there? Damn right."

Fox-y Remy

Just switched on the Sox game on FOX, expecting to have to sit through three hours of terrible announcers, but no - RemDawg is tonight's colour announcer. There is a God, after all...!

Leader Of The Pack

The Schilling-as-closer era is over. Overall, given the options that the Red Sox had and the work Schilling needed to get back on track, it was a move that turned out pretty well. Still, Schilling back in the starting rotation and Timlin (12 earned runs and 60 strikeouts in 60+ innings) as temporary closer is something I feel a little more comfortable with.

*Long, deep sigh of relief (no pun intended)*

In other news, Mark Bellhorn was DFA'd by the Sox today. Despite the fact that I (and a sizeable chunk of Red Sox Nation) had been fairly frustrated with Bellhorn this season, and that Tony G has done a nice job since coming over from the record-setting Royals, it's always sad to see the back of one of the 25.

*Tip of the hat to #12*

One win at a time

I'd rather have a nail-biting 4-3 win than a loss, but having read the report of the game, I'm glad I didn't get up at 4am to watch, which is what I'd originally planned to do. It sounds like one of those quintessential Red Sox games that frustrate you for hours before finally delivering you from the depths of despair - a bunch of runners stranded on base (14, if you're scoring at home) and a victory squeezed out in the 10th inning on an bases-loaded infield out by Manny Ramirez:

(photo: AP)

Although an emphatic grand slam would have been much sexier, we're at the stage of the season where a win is a win is a win, and anything that keeps Boston on top of the division and 4 games ahead of the Yankees is good news.

The game did bring out yet another priceless quote from Terry Francona after David Ortiz's 8th-inning ejection:

Ortiz had to be restrained by Francona and coaches Ron Jackson, Lynn Jones and Dale Sveum.

"I handed him off to Dale because I can't stop him," Francona said. "He didn't hit anyone with his bat, so we're ahead of the game."

Sometimes I think it's worth the Red Sox getting into all kinds of hot water, just so that we can hear one of Tito's gems.

Tell me more

This promises to be interesting...

Behind home plate

United States of Baseball has a nice interview with former Major League umpire Eric Gregg (Part I, Part II, Part III). As a fan, I'm as guilty as the next guy of yelling at the man in blue, but Gregg seems to have a good perspective on the game:

You know, as a baseball guy, I think I made out better as umpire than as a player. I was there for every minute of it, from the beginning of the game to the end of the game. I didn’t have off days, I didn’t have to come in from the dugout or the bullpen.

It's a tough job, but at the end of the day he knew that it was a job that gave him the best seat in the house.