Liveblogging: 2007 World Series, Game 1
5:00 PST: Aaaaannnddd...we're live! Bear with me, folks, this is my first stab at this live-blogging thing. It might be extraordinarily boring--and, in that event, it might not necessarily be wholly my fault: if, say, one team puts up nine or 10 first-run innings (stranger things have happened with both of these teams), we could be in for a very long haul.
5:05: Okay, pre-game coverage is underway. Jeannie Zalesko (sp?), who is a dead-ringer for Debra Messing, is talking to Kevin Kennedy (a dead-ringer for my high school principal), et al. I'll go ahead and offer up my Series prediction, since that's what everyone else is doing right now: Rockies in 5. Don't laugh! My logic says Colorado has a much better chance of winning this series in 5 games or even sweeping than taking it in 6 or 7 since a) the best thing the Rockies have going for them right now is this insane streak--which may or may not have been cooled off by the eight day lay-off--and I can't see them beating this Boston team if they lose more than 1 game along the way, and b) the Rockies so don't want to see this series go back to Fenway for Games 6 and/or 7 (just ask the Indians). Winning it in 5 would mostly likely mean beating Beckett at least once (they did it earlier this season, in Boston no less, which I realize doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot except that it can be done), plus besting Schilling, Matsuzaka, and Jon Lester (or the Sox's bullpen, which isn't all that reliable beyond Papelbon and maybe Okajima).
5:10: Fox's crew all picks Boston to win the Series. Surprise, surprise. Pretty much everyone outside the state of Colorado, save for Jayson Stark and myself, seems to be expecting the Sox to bulldoze the Rockies. Which I don't entirely understand. Yes, on paper Boston is the more impressive team--and should be, of course, when you factor in payroll disparity--and, sure, the lay-off will theoretically have some effect on the Rockies' momentum. But how exactly does one count out a team that's won 21 of its past 22 games? We're in virtually unprecedented territory here. New rules and plenty of second-guessing would seem to apply.
5:16: They're announcing the starting lineups. Just finished Colorado's, now they're doing Boston's. The baseball fan in me is psyched (this looks like a classic David and Goliath match-up), but the Yankees fan in me is feeling more than a little wistful right about now. We should be there! Or rather, Fox, etc. should be in the Bronx not Boston, and we should be hearing names like Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter rather than Jacoby Ellsbury and Julio Lugo. Oh well. There's always next season. (I'm starting to feel like a goddamn Cubs fan...)
5:25: We should check out Bones sometime. We're watching Angel on DVD, at the moment, and loving it. David Boreanaz is so good in the Whedonverse. I wonder how good he'd be outside of it. For what it's worth, he was okay in the "White Flag" video.
5:28: Evidently, "the lawyers win" with Referendum 67. So says the ad on our Seattle area Fox affiliate.
5:31: Helton just announced the Rockies' starting line-up. He read it off very quickly, without citing players' positions. I like him. I hope his bat comes back to life this series.
5:33: And...another commercial break. Fox is the worst when it comes to stretching events out with long, frequent ad blocks. If they get this thing started before 6 (Left Coast Time) it might just be over by midnight.
5:35: "The World Series on Fox, sponsored by American Gangster"--golden as delivered by Joe Buck.
5:37: It's actually starting. I figured they'd milk the build-up longer. I'm pleasantly surprised.
5:38 Josh Beckett already struck out Willy Taveras. Not a promising start for CO.
5:40: 3-0 count. Kaz Matsui is taking. That's more like it.
5:41: Full count. The Rockies must make Beckett work to get outs in order to win this game.
5:42: Another strikeout. Beckett looks good early.
5:44: Wow, struck out the side. Fox is playing the Pixies--"Here Comes Your Man" in tribute to Beckett. If it weren't for Beckett, Boston certainly wouldn't be in the position it's in right now.
5:46 Carl Yastrzemski announces the Red Sox line-up. Could he hit Josh Beckett?
5:47: OMFG, Pedroia just launched a homer off the top of the Green Monster. Things are already not looking good for Cinderella...
5:49: Another hit, this one a double by Youkilis. Jeff Francis (of suburban Vancouver!) needs to settle down. He's not going to be lights-out like Beckett, but he needs to get his bearings and pitch to his strengths.
5:52: Ortiz grounded out, but Manny predictably drove in Youkilis. Through one-third of an inning, Francis has yielded as many hits as Beckett has strikeouts.
5:55: It's raining in Boston. The Rockies might want to start secretly hoping for a rainout. Two outs: Francis got Lowell to fly out after nearly walking him.
5:56: Phone call...
6:02: Teresa says "hi." 3-0 now, with two runners in scoring position. Yikes.
6:03: Got out of it. The good news for Colorado: Three runs is not an insurmountable lead, assuming their bats aren't totally M.I.A. The bad news: They have to make up the difference against Beckett, while the chances of Francis suddenly becoming unhittable and limiting the damage to just three runs seem slim.
6:07: Helton struck out, too. Is Beckett as dominant as he seems tonight or are the Rockies just that cold?
6:08: Garrett Atkins slugs a Fenway double. It looked gone, but wasn't quite. I wonder if anyone just thought, "There goes Beckett's no-hitter"--'cause I kinda just did.
6:12: Strikeout #5 to Brad Hawpe. But...another Monster double, this one by Troy Tulowitzki, scoring Atkins. 3-1. Things = looking slightly up.
6:13: Inning over. Yorvit Torrealba (sp?) failed to drive in Tulowitzki. The key to staying in, and then maybe winning, this game for Colorado seems to be their ability (or lack thereof) to drive in runners in scoring position. If we're looking at a Beckett-Okajima-Papelbon ballgame, the Rockies probably aren't going to put many guys on second or third base. They can't strand them there if they want to stand a chance in this contest.
6:16: Also, Francis desperately needs a fast, no-harm-done inning, without letting Boston get back to the heart of their order.
6:18: Struck out Ellsbury. Good.
6:21: Walked Youkilis (after jamming Pedroia). Not good. Now Ortiz is up. This is what was not supposed to happen, Jeff.
6:24: And, of course, Ortiz hit a line-drive that Colorado's vaunted defense allowed to reach the outfield wall. Youkilis, not a fast man, scored from first. 4-1 Boston. Francis is walking ManRam now, thus demonstrating the difference between "smart" and "brave."
6:28: Lowell popped up. Brb, I need food.
6:33: Back, with burritos. There is one out already. I don't know how this happened.
6:35: Two outs. Announcers seem so surprised when ManRam makes a decent defensive play. Dinner is good. Swiss cheese melted atop frozen bean burritos doesn't sound like it should work, but it does really well. Inning over. Beckett is looking locked in. The Rockies are probably openly rooting for a downpour as I type this.
6:41: Francis struck out Jason Varitek, the latter of whom is starting to look pretty old this postseason (especially when you see him interviewed with his hat off).
6:42: Lugo bunts for a hit. I'd really like to have seen Varitek try that.
6:44 No further damage. Best inning so far for Francis (obviously). These VirgiColomentoFlagAntonio commercials are starting to annoy me. Speaking as someone who places international calls on a weekly basis, it's very easy to get around. If you're ever in Canada and need to call the U.S., I highly recommend the Nuvo calling card, which gives you like three and a half or four hours for five bucks.
6:50: Chatting with Francona. Tim McCarver is somehow even worse at interviewing people than he is at providing color commentary.
6:52: Helton's at second. I missed something (again).
6:53: Another Beckett strikeout. That one was key. Runner on second, one out >>>> Runner on second, two outs...
6:55: Joe Buck: "This crowd wants to see strikeout number seven." Brad Hawpe's bat: "[whiff]."
6:57: I really don't want to spend $8.50 to see Fred Claus, but I'm afraid it may be necessary.
7:02: Francis is not pitching that badly, all things considered. His spot in the rotation is deceiving. He's not really an ace. He's a very solid #3 starter in a rotation with three of 'em (though Jiminez might be #1 material with time). I'm rooting for him to perform well since he's from B.C., where I presently live.
7:03: Okay let's just not pitch to Ortiz plzthx.
7:07: Is it just me or are you sick to death of hearing about how majestic and historic and idiosyncratic Fenway Park is? I mean, I'm sure it's a lovely place to watch a baseball game, but enough lip service already. We get it.
7:09: ManRam double. Runners on second and third, two outs. Lowell gets an intentional walk.
7:11: If Francis walks in a run right here, I reserve the right to take back my "not pitching that badly" comment.
7:12: Worse. Varitek doubled. Two more runs in. Consider the compliment hereby retracted.
7:14: Inning over, and the game might as well be, too. Unless Beckett or Boston's 'pen totally melts down, I don't see the Rockies coming back from five runs down tonight. Luck only goes so far, and perhaps it's finally run out for this Colorado team?
7:17: A new email in my inbox from MoveOn.org is subject-headed "Hope is not a method." I wish I could forward the note onto Clint Hurdle and Co.
7:20: How is there already two outs? We don't have Tivo, so I can't rewind...
7:22: Phone again...
7:25: Inning over. So much for taking advantage of runners on base.
7:29: Franklin Morales replaces Francis. He seems wild, but I'm going off of three pitches, and I hope I'm wrong. It might be too late to matter anyway. Single for Lugo. He's having a pretty good night.
7:31 Ellsbury dropped down a decent-enough bunt, but Morales caught the lead runner (Lugo). The Rockies' defense is probably not overrated. But their "American League-style offense" probably is.
7:33: So much for the nice defensive play. The ump called balk on Morales' pick-off move. I think not, but it's debatable. Ellsbury at second, two outs, Youkilis batting.
7:39: Another double for Youkilis. Ellsbury may or may not have scored from first. 7-1 Boston. Wait! Ortiz doubles. Youkilis scores. 8-1.
7:41: 9-1, courtesy of a Manny bloop. Short of the legitimately miraculous, this game is over.
7:42: Professional baseball expert Ken Rosenthal just said (twice) that the Rockies faced the Cubs in the NLDS, when they actually played the Phillies. Neither Buck nor McCarver corrects him. Another Boston hit. This is ugly, and it can't really be attributed to Beckett's dominance either.
7:46: Great, a walk. Bases loaded. And it's still just the 5th inning. What a way to kick off the new blog--with a blowout. I'm guessing tv sets outside New England got flipped off about fifteen minutes ago.
7:48: 10-1. Pitching change. So,...how about that SF-J piece?
7:56: Walked in the 11th run. Before the last commercial break, McCarver compared this to Game 3 of the 2004 ALCS, which the Yankees won 19-8 before the Sox came back to take the next three games, etc. My hunch says some Fox exec whispered that one in his ear. After they narrowly averted the ratings nightmare of a small market vs. small market World Series, now they have to be worried about the possibility of an over-before-it-started 4-game ass-kicking. And...another Boston run is walked in. Ugh.
7:59: Un-fucking-believable! Three straight bases-loaded walks! 13-1! A rush shipment of anti-depressants is bound for Denver.
8:02: The inning is finally over. Joe Buck says 34 minutes, but it felt a lot longer than that.
8:09:
8:13: In other news, the Red Wings beat the Canucks, 1-0.
8:15: Buck and McCarver have spent the past several minutes discussing Taco Bell's free-tacos-for-a-stolen-base promotion, and now they have Royce Clayton on candid camera talking about it, too. That's how little there is left to talk about re: this game.
8:18: Manny just appeared to be half-asleep when he hit that pop-up. I'm half-asleep as I type this. What happens when a live-blog post hits the Interweb and no one's around to read it?
8:22: Mike Lowell vaguely looks like a brawnier Colin Farrell. In a remotely interesting game, I would never have noticed this resemblance.
8:23: Varitek looks constipated.
8:26: (For Old Man Varitek):
8:28: Why in the world is Josh Beckett still pitching? I realize I'm saying the exactly same thing as Buck and McCarver right now, but it's the only point of intrigue left in this game (aside from whether America will get some free tacos or not). The Sox could bring in Ben Affleck to pitch the next three innings, and they'd still walk away with a no-sweat win.
8:33: Now they're talking about the brand of cologne that Troy Tulowitzki wears (Derek Jeter's "Driven," which Joe Buck calls "a breathtaking fragrance").
8:34: Ashanti is singing "God Bless America." At least it's something to talk about. Maybe...
8:37: Meh. Not bad, but a bit too Mariah-esque for my tastes. She closed it out by shouting either "let's get 'em!" or "let's get it!" I hope it was the latter, a national tv nod toward Young Jeezy.
8:43: I posted the following some 3 hours and 43 minutes ago: "It might be extraordinarily boring--and, in that event, it might not necessarily be wholly my fault: if, say, one team puts up nine or 10 first-run innings (stranger things have happened with both of these teams), we could be in for a very long haul." Please keep that in mind.
8:48: Hmm, Fox is planning to air a Terminator-inspired series. I liked the first two movies as a kid, but I wonder whether this show will be worth watching. If it was on another station right now, I would certainly be willing to find out.
8:49: Now, they're airing a mini-piece on Japan's interest in this year's World Series, due to the involvement of Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kazuo Matsui. The traditional Asian string music they're playing over it feels like it should be offensive.
9:00: An article on presidential candidates' spouses includes this bizarre chart:
Presidential Spouses in Search
Significant Other Select Related Search
1. Bill Clinton Hillary "mask"
2. Jeri Thompson Fred "pictures"
3. Michelle Obama Barack "car accident"
4. Elizabeth Edwards John "cancer update"
5. Ann Romney Mitt none
6. Cindy McCain John "photo"
7. Judith Nathan Rudy "judith nathan guiliani"
8. Barbara Richardson Bill none
I'm not sure I want to know what the connection between Bill Clinton and "mask" is...
9:02: Okay, final inning. Let's get this over with. Eric Gagne LMAO!
9:06: Two down. Working with a 12-run lead, Gagne actually looks quasi-relaxed. And the Fenway crowd isn't throwing sharp objects at him.
9:07: A young Sox fan in the crowd looks nervous. Either a) he really doesn't trust Gagne, b) he has little or no understanding of how baseball games work, or c) he just crapped his pants and doesn't want his parents to find out.
9:08: Game (mercifully) over, with, of all things, a Gagne strikeout. I'll be back live-blogging again tomorrow evening at Eight Eastern / Five Pacific. Hopefully, I'll have a better game to discuss. Well, it would be astounding if tomorrow's game somehow managed to be worse than today's. So, there's that--something like optimism! Until then, don't miss me too much.
5:00 PST: Aaaaannnddd...we're live! Bear with me, folks, this is my first stab at this live-blogging thing. It might be extraordinarily boring--and, in that event, it might not necessarily be wholly my fault: if, say, one team puts up nine or 10 first-run innings (stranger things have happened with both of these teams), we could be in for a very long haul.
5:05: Okay, pre-game coverage is underway. Jeannie Zalesko (sp?), who is a dead-ringer for Debra Messing, is talking to Kevin Kennedy (a dead-ringer for my high school principal), et al. I'll go ahead and offer up my Series prediction, since that's what everyone else is doing right now: Rockies in 5. Don't laugh! My logic says Colorado has a much better chance of winning this series in 5 games or even sweeping than taking it in 6 or 7 since a) the best thing the Rockies have going for them right now is this insane streak--which may or may not have been cooled off by the eight day lay-off--and I can't see them beating this Boston team if they lose more than 1 game along the way, and b) the Rockies so don't want to see this series go back to Fenway for Games 6 and/or 7 (just ask the Indians). Winning it in 5 would mostly likely mean beating Beckett at least once (they did it earlier this season, in Boston no less, which I realize doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot except that it can be done), plus besting Schilling, Matsuzaka, and Jon Lester (or the Sox's bullpen, which isn't all that reliable beyond Papelbon and maybe Okajima).
5:10: Fox's crew all picks Boston to win the Series. Surprise, surprise. Pretty much everyone outside the state of Colorado, save for Jayson Stark and myself, seems to be expecting the Sox to bulldoze the Rockies. Which I don't entirely understand. Yes, on paper Boston is the more impressive team--and should be, of course, when you factor in payroll disparity--and, sure, the lay-off will theoretically have some effect on the Rockies' momentum. But how exactly does one count out a team that's won 21 of its past 22 games? We're in virtually unprecedented territory here. New rules and plenty of second-guessing would seem to apply.
5:16: They're announcing the starting lineups. Just finished Colorado's, now they're doing Boston's. The baseball fan in me is psyched (this looks like a classic David and Goliath match-up), but the Yankees fan in me is feeling more than a little wistful right about now. We should be there! Or rather, Fox, etc. should be in the Bronx not Boston, and we should be hearing names like Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter rather than Jacoby Ellsbury and Julio Lugo. Oh well. There's always next season. (I'm starting to feel like a goddamn Cubs fan...)
5:25: We should check out Bones sometime. We're watching Angel on DVD, at the moment, and loving it. David Boreanaz is so good in the Whedonverse. I wonder how good he'd be outside of it. For what it's worth, he was okay in the "White Flag" video.
5:28: Evidently, "the lawyers win" with Referendum 67. So says the ad on our Seattle area Fox affiliate.
5:31: Helton just announced the Rockies' starting line-up. He read it off very quickly, without citing players' positions. I like him. I hope his bat comes back to life this series.
5:33: And...another commercial break. Fox is the worst when it comes to stretching events out with long, frequent ad blocks. If they get this thing started before 6 (Left Coast Time) it might just be over by midnight.
5:35: "The World Series on Fox, sponsored by American Gangster"--golden as delivered by Joe Buck.
5:37: It's actually starting. I figured they'd milk the build-up longer. I'm pleasantly surprised.
5:38 Josh Beckett already struck out Willy Taveras. Not a promising start for CO.
5:40: 3-0 count. Kaz Matsui is taking. That's more like it.
5:41: Full count. The Rockies must make Beckett work to get outs in order to win this game.
5:42: Another strikeout. Beckett looks good early.
5:44: Wow, struck out the side. Fox is playing the Pixies--"Here Comes Your Man" in tribute to Beckett. If it weren't for Beckett, Boston certainly wouldn't be in the position it's in right now.
5:46 Carl Yastrzemski announces the Red Sox line-up. Could he hit Josh Beckett?
5:47: OMFG, Pedroia just launched a homer off the top of the Green Monster. Things are already not looking good for Cinderella...
5:49: Another hit, this one a double by Youkilis. Jeff Francis (of suburban Vancouver!) needs to settle down. He's not going to be lights-out like Beckett, but he needs to get his bearings and pitch to his strengths.
5:52: Ortiz grounded out, but Manny predictably drove in Youkilis. Through one-third of an inning, Francis has yielded as many hits as Beckett has strikeouts.
5:55: It's raining in Boston. The Rockies might want to start secretly hoping for a rainout. Two outs: Francis got Lowell to fly out after nearly walking him.
5:56: Phone call...
6:02: Teresa says "hi." 3-0 now, with two runners in scoring position. Yikes.
6:03: Got out of it. The good news for Colorado: Three runs is not an insurmountable lead, assuming their bats aren't totally M.I.A. The bad news: They have to make up the difference against Beckett, while the chances of Francis suddenly becoming unhittable and limiting the damage to just three runs seem slim.
6:07: Helton struck out, too. Is Beckett as dominant as he seems tonight or are the Rockies just that cold?
6:08: Garrett Atkins slugs a Fenway double. It looked gone, but wasn't quite. I wonder if anyone just thought, "There goes Beckett's no-hitter"--'cause I kinda just did.
6:12: Strikeout #5 to Brad Hawpe. But...another Monster double, this one by Troy Tulowitzki, scoring Atkins. 3-1. Things = looking slightly up.
6:13: Inning over. Yorvit Torrealba (sp?) failed to drive in Tulowitzki. The key to staying in, and then maybe winning, this game for Colorado seems to be their ability (or lack thereof) to drive in runners in scoring position. If we're looking at a Beckett-Okajima-Papelbon ballgame, the Rockies probably aren't going to put many guys on second or third base. They can't strand them there if they want to stand a chance in this contest.
6:16: Also, Francis desperately needs a fast, no-harm-done inning, without letting Boston get back to the heart of their order.
6:18: Struck out Ellsbury. Good.
6:21: Walked Youkilis (after jamming Pedroia). Not good. Now Ortiz is up. This is what was not supposed to happen, Jeff.
6:24: And, of course, Ortiz hit a line-drive that Colorado's vaunted defense allowed to reach the outfield wall. Youkilis, not a fast man, scored from first. 4-1 Boston. Francis is walking ManRam now, thus demonstrating the difference between "smart" and "brave."
6:28: Lowell popped up. Brb, I need food.
6:33: Back, with burritos. There is one out already. I don't know how this happened.
6:35: Two outs. Announcers seem so surprised when ManRam makes a decent defensive play. Dinner is good. Swiss cheese melted atop frozen bean burritos doesn't sound like it should work, but it does really well. Inning over. Beckett is looking locked in. The Rockies are probably openly rooting for a downpour as I type this.
6:41: Francis struck out Jason Varitek, the latter of whom is starting to look pretty old this postseason (especially when you see him interviewed with his hat off).
6:42: Lugo bunts for a hit. I'd really like to have seen Varitek try that.
6:44 No further damage. Best inning so far for Francis (obviously). These VirgiColomentoFlagAntonio commercials are starting to annoy me. Speaking as someone who places international calls on a weekly basis, it's very easy to get around. If you're ever in Canada and need to call the U.S., I highly recommend the Nuvo calling card, which gives you like three and a half or four hours for five bucks.
6:50: Chatting with Francona. Tim McCarver is somehow even worse at interviewing people than he is at providing color commentary.
6:52: Helton's at second. I missed something (again).
6:53: Another Beckett strikeout. That one was key. Runner on second, one out >>>> Runner on second, two outs...
6:55: Joe Buck: "This crowd wants to see strikeout number seven." Brad Hawpe's bat: "[whiff]."
6:57: I really don't want to spend $8.50 to see Fred Claus, but I'm afraid it may be necessary.
7:02: Francis is not pitching that badly, all things considered. His spot in the rotation is deceiving. He's not really an ace. He's a very solid #3 starter in a rotation with three of 'em (though Jiminez might be #1 material with time). I'm rooting for him to perform well since he's from B.C., where I presently live.
7:03: Okay let's just not pitch to Ortiz plzthx.
7:07: Is it just me or are you sick to death of hearing about how majestic and historic and idiosyncratic Fenway Park is? I mean, I'm sure it's a lovely place to watch a baseball game, but enough lip service already. We get it.
7:09: ManRam double. Runners on second and third, two outs. Lowell gets an intentional walk.
7:11: If Francis walks in a run right here, I reserve the right to take back my "not pitching that badly" comment.
7:12: Worse. Varitek doubled. Two more runs in. Consider the compliment hereby retracted.
7:14: Inning over, and the game might as well be, too. Unless Beckett or Boston's 'pen totally melts down, I don't see the Rockies coming back from five runs down tonight. Luck only goes so far, and perhaps it's finally run out for this Colorado team?
7:17: A new email in my inbox from MoveOn.org is subject-headed "Hope is not a method." I wish I could forward the note onto Clint Hurdle and Co.
7:20: How is there already two outs? We don't have Tivo, so I can't rewind...
7:22: Phone again...
7:25: Inning over. So much for taking advantage of runners on base.
7:29: Franklin Morales replaces Francis. He seems wild, but I'm going off of three pitches, and I hope I'm wrong. It might be too late to matter anyway. Single for Lugo. He's having a pretty good night.
7:31 Ellsbury dropped down a decent-enough bunt, but Morales caught the lead runner (Lugo). The Rockies' defense is probably not overrated. But their "American League-style offense" probably is.
7:33: So much for the nice defensive play. The ump called balk on Morales' pick-off move. I think not, but it's debatable. Ellsbury at second, two outs, Youkilis batting.
7:39: Another double for Youkilis. Ellsbury may or may not have scored from first. 7-1 Boston. Wait! Ortiz doubles. Youkilis scores. 8-1.
7:41: 9-1, courtesy of a Manny bloop. Short of the legitimately miraculous, this game is over.
7:42: Professional baseball expert Ken Rosenthal just said (twice) that the Rockies faced the Cubs in the NLDS, when they actually played the Phillies. Neither Buck nor McCarver corrects him. Another Boston hit. This is ugly, and it can't really be attributed to Beckett's dominance either.
7:46: Great, a walk. Bases loaded. And it's still just the 5th inning. What a way to kick off the new blog--with a blowout. I'm guessing tv sets outside New England got flipped off about fifteen minutes ago.
7:48: 10-1. Pitching change. So,...how about that SF-J piece?
7:56: Walked in the 11th run. Before the last commercial break, McCarver compared this to Game 3 of the 2004 ALCS, which the Yankees won 19-8 before the Sox came back to take the next three games, etc. My hunch says some Fox exec whispered that one in his ear. After they narrowly averted the ratings nightmare of a small market vs. small market World Series, now they have to be worried about the possibility of an over-before-it-started 4-game ass-kicking. And...another Boston run is walked in. Ugh.
7:59: Un-fucking-believable! Three straight bases-loaded walks! 13-1! A rush shipment of anti-depressants is bound for Denver.
8:02: The inning is finally over. Joe Buck says 34 minutes, but it felt a lot longer than that.
8:09:
8:13: In other news, the Red Wings beat the Canucks, 1-0.
8:15: Buck and McCarver have spent the past several minutes discussing Taco Bell's free-tacos-for-a-stolen-base promotion, and now they have Royce Clayton on candid camera talking about it, too. That's how little there is left to talk about re: this game.
8:18: Manny just appeared to be half-asleep when he hit that pop-up. I'm half-asleep as I type this. What happens when a live-blog post hits the Interweb and no one's around to read it?
8:22: Mike Lowell vaguely looks like a brawnier Colin Farrell. In a remotely interesting game, I would never have noticed this resemblance.
8:23: Varitek looks constipated.
8:26: (For Old Man Varitek):
8:28: Why in the world is Josh Beckett still pitching? I realize I'm saying the exactly same thing as Buck and McCarver right now, but it's the only point of intrigue left in this game (aside from whether America will get some free tacos or not). The Sox could bring in Ben Affleck to pitch the next three innings, and they'd still walk away with a no-sweat win.
8:33: Now they're talking about the brand of cologne that Troy Tulowitzki wears (Derek Jeter's "Driven," which Joe Buck calls "a breathtaking fragrance").
8:34: Ashanti is singing "God Bless America." At least it's something to talk about. Maybe...
8:37: Meh. Not bad, but a bit too Mariah-esque for my tastes. She closed it out by shouting either "let's get 'em!" or "let's get it!" I hope it was the latter, a national tv nod toward Young Jeezy.
8:43: I posted the following some 3 hours and 43 minutes ago: "It might be extraordinarily boring--and, in that event, it might not necessarily be wholly my fault: if, say, one team puts up nine or 10 first-run innings (stranger things have happened with both of these teams), we could be in for a very long haul." Please keep that in mind.
8:48: Hmm, Fox is planning to air a Terminator-inspired series. I liked the first two movies as a kid, but I wonder whether this show will be worth watching. If it was on another station right now, I would certainly be willing to find out.
8:49: Now, they're airing a mini-piece on Japan's interest in this year's World Series, due to the involvement of Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kazuo Matsui. The traditional Asian string music they're playing over it feels like it should be offensive.
9:00: An article on presidential candidates' spouses includes this bizarre chart:
Presidential Spouses in Search
Significant Other Select Related Search
1. Bill Clinton Hillary "mask"
2. Jeri Thompson Fred "pictures"
3. Michelle Obama Barack "car accident"
4. Elizabeth Edwards John "cancer update"
5. Ann Romney Mitt none
6. Cindy McCain John "photo"
7. Judith Nathan Rudy "judith nathan guiliani"
8. Barbara Richardson Bill none
I'm not sure I want to know what the connection between Bill Clinton and "mask" is...
9:02: Okay, final inning. Let's get this over with. Eric Gagne LMAO!
9:06: Two down. Working with a 12-run lead, Gagne actually looks quasi-relaxed. And the Fenway crowd isn't throwing sharp objects at him.
9:07: A young Sox fan in the crowd looks nervous. Either a) he really doesn't trust Gagne, b) he has little or no understanding of how baseball games work, or c) he just crapped his pants and doesn't want his parents to find out.
9:08: Game (mercifully) over, with, of all things, a Gagne strikeout. I'll be back live-blogging again tomorrow evening at Eight Eastern / Five Pacific. Hopefully, I'll have a better game to discuss. Well, it would be astounding if tomorrow's game somehow managed to be worse than today's. So, there's that--something like optimism! Until then, don't miss me too much.
posted by Josh at
5:22 PM
<< Home