This is the end

This is my final blog entry. I would love to keep it up, but given that I have no audience, and that I'll be in summer classes and on co-op, I doubt I'll have time to really keep up with it. I'd rather not do it than do a half-assed job.

That being said, this was a new experience for me. After I got used to blogging, I actually enjoyed it. There were days when I looked forward to signing onto blogger.com and writing about the day's events. I'm a huge Sox fan, so obviously I chose to blog about something I was passionate about, which helped a lot. I definitely learned to keep my eye out for Sox news, so I could have something new and interesting to write about it.

If I could do it differently, I probably would. I would have done more from the start. There were a couple of weeks in February that really kept me from concentrating not just on the blog, but on schoolwork in general. I felt bad for having neglected the blog that long. If I had to do it over again, I would have taken more responsibility for updating, as I should have. No one wants to read a blog that only gets updated every 2 weeks. Also, I would have tried to promote it. Maybe then I would have had an audience (the few comments all came from classmates).

I really liked going through other people's blogs to see what they were writing about. I think blogs are an exceptional way to read about a whole bunch of different things without taking too much time. In today's culture, where everyone is always in a hurry, blogs are good - they give you what you want in a nice, convenient package, and readers don't have to sort through any info - it's already there for them.

My time blogging has taught me that this really is the future...with less and less people reading the papers and more turning to the internet, blogs seem like a great way to diseminate information. Plus you can do a lot of cool things with them as far as graphics, etc. They're more personal, too, which is what I like about them.

I enjoyed keeping up with my blog. When I went to a Sox game, the first thing I did when I came home was share my experience with whoever it is that actually reads this thing. I feel more connected now to Red Sox Nation than I ever did. I'll miss it.

Happy Eastover

I was at work all day, so I missed the Sox game. Of course. Papelbon got the save, though. I love that guy.

Since I can't really write about the game, I can write about Red Sox scratch tickets. Yeah. My mom won $500 on one of those yesterday. How come I never win anything? I suck at life, apparently.

So I'm gonna go pull myself together and think about what I'm going to write for my final blog posting...that should be up by 9 p.m. tonight. Later.

Go PawSox

Matt and I were able to scalp tickets to the game yesterday (again). I actually had no intention of going, but we woke up and it was a gorgeous day, and when Matt asked me if I felt like trying to get into the game, my response was, "Absolutely!"

So we got tickets for $40 and sat along the third base line, about 30 rows up (really decent seats!). By the time we got in, it was already the third inning, and the Sox were on their way to being shut out, 3-0. As soon as we walked in, Josh Bard had a passed ball.

Watching the game was frustrating. Terry Francona put out possibly the worst lineup I have ever seen in a Major League game. It might as well have been the Pawtucket Red Sox, considering the only regulars were Ortiz, Ramirez and Youkilis. That game had "L" written all over it.

In other news, my first purchase of the season: A Jonathan Papelbon navy blue shirt. I'm happy.

I can't think of a title for this post

I didn't see the Sox game last night. As usual. But they got killed (for the second game in a row)...Clement was not on his game at all.

The reason I'm really posting is because my dad had a 2004 fan favorite in his cab yesterday...Orlando Cabrera. My dad actually didn't believe it was him, because he plays in LA now, so it didn't make sense that he would be in Boston. Apparently, he had a day off and decided to come see family or something like that. The ring should have been a giveaway. Anyway, he signed an autograph. My dad said he was a really nice guy, but his English wasn't so great. Interesting story of the day.

What's in your fridge?

Apparently David Ortiz has seafood salad in his. Rachael Ray snuck a peek inside Big Papi's fridge. His wife says he has a sweet tooth.

Kinda wondering when Rachael Ray got her own magazine.

It had to happen sometime...

The Sox got their butts handed to them today. I did not see any of it. So basically I have nothing to write about.

Actually, I lied. David Wells made his first start today. Word is, he stunk it up. I don't know, because we don't have a television at the cinema. Ok, that's also a lie. We have a black and white set lying around somewhere in one of the projection booths. But it doesn't have cable, which makes it useless to me.

Coco Crisp also signed a three year extension today. Yay.

Also, to end this post, I bought two Red Sox scratch tickets today. I won $10 on one of them. I made my money back, which means I can go and get two more. Not addicted to them or anything.

This post has been pointless. Bye.

Boston's unofficial holiday

The Home Opener at Fenway Park is a day that may as well be a holiday in Boston. It was so eagerly anticipated, and it definitely lives up to all the hype, every single year, no matter what. I mean, come on. The Sox are home for the summer...what could be better than that?

The only thing that's better is actually going to the home opener. Like I did today. Wow, what an amazing time. I haven't been to Fenway since the last Yankees series in October (I know, poor me, right?), but everytime I go there after a new season starts, it's like coming home every time. I miss that place so much during the winter.

So, to recap my time at the opener...my boyfriend actually didn't work today. This morning I was actually really disappointed, because he told me he wouldn't be working, hence, I had no chance in hell of getting into Fenway. Then, while I was in class, he sent me a text message saying that scalpers were asking $200/ticket. So that wasn't happening either. We decided to go for it anyway. We got lucky. Two guys happened to have extra tickets, which we bought from them (we definitely overpaid, $50 for bleacher seats, but whatever, this only happens once a year). So we headed up to the bleachers. Beckett had a rough first inning, after walking a bunch of guys. Our view of the field was pretty crappy, but the new EMC club looked hot. I'll be checking out those seats sometime in the near future.

We also had a rough two or three innings in the bleachers. The sun was beating down on us, we had to get up every .2 seconds to let somebody by with beer, and to top things off, there was a drunk jerk sitting behind us who found it necessary to launch into Abbott and Costello's whole "Who's on First" schtick. Great, it was funny about 50 years ago, it's not funny anymore. He also made some crack about having cereal in centerfield. Funny guy. We decided we'd rather stand than sit in front of this guy. We made our way over to standing room, where we happily chilled with normal Red Sox fans for the rest of the game.

PS - Fenway Franks really are the best. And it's now officially time to buy a new Sox player shirt, as I do at the beginning of every season. It's a toss-up between Papelbon, Beckett, and Crisp. Can't decide. Hmm.

All in all - I had a great day, and I'm looking forward to an awesome season at Fenway. We're 6-1!

It's official

David Ortiz will be around for a while. He signed a contract extension through 2010, with a club option for 2011. Ortiz says he wants to end his career as a Red Sox player. Works for me. I'm glad the Sox wrapped him up early, rather than waiting and letting him get away cough Pedro Martinez cough cough Johnny Damon.

The other news item of the day: Coco will be out for at least 10 days. Doesn't look good for the Sox, since they need a healthy lead-off hitter.

Ortiz here for a while?

The Red Sox have called a press conference for 3 p.m. They are expected to announce a contract extension for David Ortiz, which can only be a good thing.

Also, there's speculation that Coco Crisp has a broken knuckle on his left hand after sliding into third after an attempted steal. Whether or not this will keep him on the sidelines for opening day remains to be seen, but if it is a broken knuckle, he may be out for up to a month (in which case I will cry). He's off to such a great start, it would be a shame to lose such a charismatic guy to injury in the first leg of the season.

Better late than never

So I didn't actually get to see any of the game today (thanks a lot, West Newton Cinema), but from what I've read and heard, Tim Wakefield pitched well.

And the Yankees are 2-4. Which is good enough for last place in the American League East. Yeah, whatever, it's only the beginning of the season. But it still makes me happy.

Nuts to you, blogger.com

Ok, so I had this whole post written where I broke down last night's game and today's game, but Blogger.com decided to be a jerk and not publish my post and not save it as a draft. So basically it got deleted after I spent like 20 minutes on this one post. Way to go, blogger.com.

Clearly it's after midnight and I will not be redoing the whole thing right now.

Phooey.

Hot start for hot Texan

Josh Beckett had a spectacular debut for the Sox last night. I only got to see his last inning, the 7th, because I was at work until 10 (insert sad face here), but I read about it, and I did see his final strikeout.

The big story of the day, though: Has Keith Foulke lost his job? It sure looks like it. With a one run lead in the ninth (after a shaky eighth inning from Mike Timlin), Tito gave the ball to Jonathan Papelbon, who retired the side on only 11 pitches. Dan Shaughnessy speculates that now is as good a time as any to let the "kid gunslinger" take over the role of closer.

Papelbon has electric stuff. His fastball hit 95 on the radar, and he was much more effective than Foulke has been at any point in the past season. This is not to say that Foulke won't ever return to form...he definitely might. I just don't want to find out the hard way. Let the kid pitch.

Continued frustration

I think maybe I waited too long to try to get tickets. I called the Red Sox ticketing office just now, and after being on hold for 20 minutes, was told that the series I wanted most (Mets, Yankees), were unavailable, and all other games were club seating only (some scattered) and were $150 each. Geez, I mean, I love the Red Sox and all, but I'm not prepared to dole out $300 per game. I don't have that kind of money. And even if I did, it's just outrageous. Who does that?

Looks like I'll be relying on free rides into Fenway Park again this season.

For shame!

So before I rip into the Sox, I need to rant about this weather. First off, nothing has ever been more stupid than New England weather. I frequently ask myself, between the months of November and March, why I didn't go off to college somewhere like the Florida Keys, or Aruba maybe. IT'S APRIL...IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SNOWING. I SHOULD BE WEARING A TANK TOP AND FLIP FLOPS RIGHT NOW, NOT MY HEAVY-DUTY NORTHFACE WINTER JACKET. End of rant.

And now on to my rant on the Sox. I have no words for the suckitude that was the Red Sox yesterday. Tim Wakefield fell apart early, giving up four runs in the first inning alone. He only lasted 3 2/3 innings, giving up seven earned runs. It's crazy how one guy can fluctuate so much from being unhittable to throwing cupcakes. That's what happened last night. Let's be honest: when Wakefield's on his game, his stuff is nasty. But yesterday he threw fluff, and the Rangers took advantage of it early on. His knuckler stayed out over the heart of the plate, and he was done. Sox bats didn't help out much either - with the exception of Coco Crisp (another great performance last night), who went 3-5, nobody really did much. The Sox did grab a couple runs with two outs in the ninth, but they never got within less than 6 runs of the Rangers.

It didn't help that there's no Doug Mirabelli behind the plate anymore, either. Poor Josh Bard. His first game in a Boston uniform resulted in three passed balls. I feel bad for the guy, it must have been frustrating, because it sure was frustrating to watch. We'll see if the Sox can rebound tonight in the final game of the Texas series.

Red Sox 7, Rangers 3

The new and improved Boston Red Sox started off their season on the right foot today. Schilling pitched wonderfully, and Ortiz and Lowell both went yard, giving the Sox a 7-3 win over Texas. Ortiz alone knocked in 3 runs today, so hopefully that's just a sign of more to come (does anyone really expect him to hit less than 40 home runs in a season nowadays?).

Foulke struggled in his outing, but was able to close out the game with a little help in center field from Coco Crisp, who made a spectacular catch for the 2nd out in the ninth.

All in all, great game, and it was so great to be able to see the boys again! Baseball is back!

Today's the day!

Season opener in T-minus 30 minutes! I'll be missing the first hour or so since I'll be stuck in class, but you can bet your butt I'll be making a beeline to the Fenway to watch the rest of the game on my boyfriend's TV.

And if you think I'm not decked out in Red Sox gear today (including my fave Varitek t-shirt)...you'd be wrong.

Countdown: 2 days

The Sox will kick off their regular season on Monday in Texas. I could not be more excited. The home opener isn't til the 11th. Hopefully I'll be going to that. Just another of the perks of dating a Fenway security guard.

In other news, Tavarez has been suspended and fined by Major League Baseball for the punching incident. He was suspended for 10 days. He is not appealing the ban. This means he will start off his first season in Boston on the suspended list. What a great start.

And lastly, there are rumors circulating that David Ortiz has signed a four year extension on his contract for $50 million. Too bad it hasn't actually happened yet, according to Papi. That's one contract the Sox can't afford to let go.