Musings from Mandy

Here are a few articles on Josh Hancock that I thought were well done... Cardinal Nation Mourns; Autopsy set for today Death leaves a family and a team in pieces Pitcher's Death Hits Fossum Hard Hudson mourns Auburn teammate

Being the die-hard Sox fan that I am, me, Kate, Amy, Paul and T went down to Pawtucket Friday for Lester's first AAA start. It was a great time (except it was freezing), and we had sweet seats 5 rows behind home plate. Lester looked great, didn't give up any runs and hit 96 once, and 94 a few times on the gun.

Actually, 2/3 is pretty sweet. *In case you were under a rock this weekend, the Sox took 2/3 from the Yankees . *Bob Ryan says that despite protests from Cora , he is making a case to take Pedroia's job. *Seth Mnookin has an entry where he says why he doesn't like Jay Payton and Kevin Millar, and also says that Doug Mirabelli is a jerk . Interesting. *This Sox / Yanks recap has Tavarez going over and giving Lester a big hug . Tavarez talked about how he went up to Jon Lester recently, when Lester was throwing on the side at Fenway Park. Lester has valiantly battled back from cancer and figures to take his spot in the rotation. "I gave him a big hug," Tavarez said. "I said, `I'll see you soon. Be better. You're going to be fine.' He's a kid. He has a big future." * Josh Hancock , who came up with the Sox and made his first ML start with the Sox was killed in a car accident early Sunday morning. The news hit some of the Sox who came up with ...

Just heard on ESPN that Randy Moss is in New England and will be a Patriot by the end of the day. He has restructured his contract so he can win a Super Bowl.

Yesterday me, Colleen, Katelyn and Katie made the trek out to Milford for Vince Wilfork's Draft Party. It was very fun. I love the NFL draft. It is one of my favorite sporting events of the year. To steal from Peter King, here are 10 things I think I think... *I think that if I was a top 10 NFL draft pick projection, I would absolutely not go to NY to watch the draft. I would do the Joe Thomas route and go fishing with my dad. Who wants to be the Matt Leinart / Brady Quinn (that was painful and I don't even like Brady Quinn) of the draft? *I think the Browns got a steal with Quinn at 22 even though they had to give up their pick in '08. *I think the Lions did the right thing taking Calvin Johnson with the 2 nd pick. When in doubt, take the best player in the draft. Also, they took Drew Stanton with their 2 nd pick, who I also love. *I think I liked the NFL network's draft coverage rather than ESPN's . A Mel Kiper / Chris Berman -free day is a wonderful thing. *...

MLB Credits Hank Aaron With 50 Lost Home Runs MILWAUKEE—In what Major League Baseball officials are calling a "long overdue correction of a gross oversight," Commissioner Bud Selig announced Tuesday the discovery that Hall of Famer Hank Aaron had in fact accumulated 50 previously unaccounted-for home runs during his illustrious 22-year baseball career, bringing his once record total of 755 to an even higher 805 and putting the all-time home-run record perhaps forever out of reach. Hank Aaron hits one of the 12 home runs he tallied during the 1973-1/2 season. "Hank Aaron is a hero, an excellent man, and a great ambassador for the game of baseball," Selig said during a press conference to announce the findings. "We're proud to have finally set things right, hopefully once and for all. And I have to tell you, some of the home runs that we discovered were just monster shots. One was hit off of [Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher] Harvey Haddix that went 576 feet, and H...

Ryan Hollweg does his pregame routine. He's a forward for the NY Rangers. As for the Sox, Joshua is dominating just as I knew he would, and hey, look at that, Wily Mo didn't strike out once. Good win, I'll take it. I wish that our rotation was in a different order for this weekend, but, Tavarez is due for a good start. Right? Due? Overdue even? Even in April, doesn't get much better than that. Matsuzka tonight, Vince Wilfork's Draft Party tomorrow, and then some more Sox Yankees for the rest of the weekend! And it's the weekend!

This morning, I no sooner sit down in my chair when wKatie rounds the corner into my cube and informs me that we have to eat buffalo chicken for lunch today because whenever she eats buffalo chicken the Red Sox win, and that by eating buffalo chicken, we'll be sending good karma down to Baltimore. I'm a big karma believer. Now all I have to do is decide if I want buffalo chicken on a salad, by itself, with fries, or in a sandwich. Decisions, decisions. The Red Sox looked good last night. Curt pitched well, some timely hitting, and an appearance by the always handsome Brian Roberts. To be honest, I missed most of the game between being to far from the TV at Lucky's to see what was going on, to taking the T home after missing the bus (thank God for brothers who will pick you up), and falling asleep before the end of the game. *As for the O's announcers who said that Curt painted his sock, I give you this . and this... "What? Are you kidding me? He's [expleti...

This morning, I no sooner sit down in my chair when wKatie rounds the corner into my cube and informs me that we have to eat buffalo chicken for lunch today because whenever she eats buffalo chicken the Red Sox win, and that by eating buffalo chicken, we'll be sending good karma down to Baltimore. I'm a big karma believer. Now all I have to do is decide if I want buffalo chicken on a salad, by itself, with fries, or in a sandwich. Decisions, decisions. The Red Sox looked good last night. Curt pitched well, some timely hitting, and an appearance by the always handsome Brian Roberts. To be honest, I missed most of the game between being to far from the TV at Lucky's to see what was going on, to taking the T home after missing the bus (thank God for brothers who will pick you up), and falling asleep before the end of the game. *As for the O's announcers who said that Curt painted his sock, I give you this . and this... "What? Are you kidding me? He's [expleti...

Also, Wily Mo reminds me of nothing so much as that puppy Marianne and I saw in Coolidge Corner earlier today who was brand new and clearly not in control of his big, gangly, puppy limbs. Like you can't really get mad at the puppy for playing with the ball instead of throwing it into second like a capable baseball player. And I suspect you couldn't really get mad at Wily Mo for getting nervous and peeing in the corner. But it's going to take a larger newspaper wack to the nose with that one. Additionally, the owner of the puppy had clearly obtained said animal for the exact reason that it garnered him much attention from twenty-something girls as he was extremely willing to allow us to pet the puppy and generally remark on its cuteness. So that begs the question: if Wily Mo is a puppy, who's wingdog is he? from www.basegirl.blogspot.com

I went to the Sox Monday night...yesterday, I was tired, cranky, and I didn't want to talk about it. I decided it was a classic let down game after sweeping the Yanks, I was giving them a free pass. Then last nights game came around. I hate Julian Tavarez, you know he's probably going to pitch like shit, and you're hoping the O can score enough to overcome all of his inadequacies. I feel like Denny Green after the Cardinals lost to the Bears, "HE WAS WHAT I THOUGHT HE WAS, HE WAS WHAT I THOUGHT HE WAS". I understand Lester isn't ready and maybe he's still a ways off, we'll have a better idea after today when he throws against AAA for the first time. Why not throw someone else out there. After 5 innings of no-hit baseball last October, I'm not taking out the anointing oil or anything, but at least if you throw Devern Hansack out there, you don't know what you are going to get. He might pitch great, he might not, who knows, but isn't...

Everyone needs to read Chad Finn's blog immediately. I love when I have to stifle my laughter at my desk.

*I love those NY papers. Hehe. *Bob Ryan has a good one about the freaking amazing 3rd inning . Just for the record naysayers, I did call it. I told Paul that the Sox were going back to back to back to back. (I meant to say that Jason would hit one too and thought that they would hit 3 in a row, but I said it wrong.) But I did call it. So, if anyone wants to hear it directly from Paul, call my cell phone number only change the last number from a 3 to a 5. One more thing on the 4 HR's in a row. It's happened five times in baseball, and once Terry Francona's dad was involved, and TWICE, J.D. Drew was involved. What are the odds of that happening? *I mean, I know it is early and all, but you can't ask for much more than what we got this weekend. Gordon has the game report. *When Papelbon came on in Saturday and Wild Thing started playing...I mean, it was like a dream come true. We all new he needed a song. He is so bad-ass. I mean, the ovation he gets / everyone singi...

*I'm pissed no one hit a Yankee last night after Pettitte hit Youk...Curt had the perfect opportunity to hit Mr. April and instead gave up a GD HR. *My favorite chants from the night...the "Yankees Suck" chant after we took the lead...the loudest of the night. The "You're no Jeter" to A-Rod before lined softly to second, and "Ok-a-jima" when he was closing it out. *Caught the highlights at Copperfields after...Coco didn't have a chance to get A-Rod's HR, A+ for effort though...Also, Matsuzaka's face was PRICELESS after Okajima got the last out. *Katelyn and I had quite possibly the most annoying / stupidest man on Earth behind us. *My favorite text from last night, " It's official Mariano Rivera is my favorite Red Sox " from KP. *Good to see the Captain get the bat going (ours not theirs, obviously). (10 too!). *I hate the hit and run with nobody out. Because if something gets screwed up...a la J.D. getting gunned out r...

Also, Hi Johnny, how are things greating you in NY? I hope your cramps are better! Here we are again, Yankees @ Red Sox for the first time of 2007, and thanks to Katelyn, I'll be in the grandstand for the game. (and, they are going to wear their green jerseys, which I am oddly excited about), and Mr. Cousy will be on hand to throw out the first pitch. The links... *Bob Ryan doesn't hate the Yankees. *Gerry Callahan says that A-Rod will be wearing a Sox uniform on Opening Day 2008. * Cora got even. *This is from John Tomase's notebook entry from yesterday...I can't believe Tavarez once almost had a no-no... April 19th, 2007 Tavarez is loose Posted by John Tomase at 12:56 pm Couple of observations on Julian Tavarez in the hours before today’s game. For one, he stopped during highlights of Mark Buerhle’s no-hitter last night to chat with reporters, unprompted, about his own near no-no with the Cubs in 2001. He took a no-hitter into the eighth against the Pirates on the ...

I've heard a few things about this speech but hadn't seen it yet. Gave me goosebumps. if that link won't work...it wouldn't for some reason... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cSuidxE8os

Remembering a tragic event posted: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 Print Entry One always hates to witness a national tragedy like the one that took place on Monday in Blacksburg, Va. A horrific event took place -- one of the worst in our nation's history. I can't begin to comprehend what the family members of the victims are going through. I remember checking my e-mail early in the morning the day of the tragedy when I first heard about it, and the first thing that started popping in my head was when I was on campus at the University of Illinois-Chicago and I found out the events of 9/11 were happening. I remembered how scared people were on my campus and the reactions of all the faculty and students. Now try to imagine being on the campus of Virginia Tech as a student while this event was going on. One of the victims of the tragedy was 25-year-old Brian Bluhm . I never had the pleasure of actually meeting Brian. In just a few short weeks, Brian was scheduled to earn his master...

A few thoughts from last night and a few links... *The GD shift pisses me off. *Jerry sounds like he has chronic bronchitis. *Curt talking to Dice-K and showing him the knuckleball yesterday was hilarious. Dice-K seems like a great time. *Papelbon coming into save gives me butterflies...and not the nervous kind, but the, "we are about to kick some ass" kind. Also, I love when he throws a close pitch and stares down the umpire with a, "You better hope you never cross my path when I'm duck hunting" look. *How about Dougie? Looks like he has single handedly taken care of the run support issues for Wake. Maybe we should have him catch Dice-K on Sunday. Actually, never mind. The links... *The Celt's lost their last game of the year with a last second shot by Flip Murray. I watched some of this game, actually. I love Big Al. I may even get a Jefferson shirt at some time. But I'm going to wait and hopefully get an Oden or Durant. Gary Tanguay was say...

The NBA from LVP to MVP, Part I By Bill Simmons Page 2 First, the good news: We'll forget the lackluster regular season once the NBA playoffs kick off with a barrage of spectacular matchups, assuming everything breaks correctly. I don't need to sell you on the Spurs-Nuggets, Lakers-Suns or Cavs-Heat battles, but a Jazz-Rockets series works for any true basketball fan, and you don't like sports if you can't get excited for Nellie's run-and-gun Warriors battling his old Mavs team, or Toronto laying its feel-good season on the line against New Jersey and Public Enemy No. 1 (Vince Carter). First of all, I am so sick of reading about SG's take on basketball I could poke myself in the eye. Secondly, I hate when columnists say stuff like, "you don't like sports if you can't get excited for Nellie's run-and-gun Warriors battling his old Mavs team, or Toronto laying its feel-good season on the line against New Jersey and Public Enemy No. 1 (Vince Carter...

Dice-K is sadly a memeber of the Tim Wakefield school of run support. Overall he looked good though...Daisuke could have very easily gotten out of the 4th with the questionable call with Veronon Wells safe at first after Mike Lowell's throw, and, if that sharp grounder to Lugo had been hit to Gonzales instead of Lugo it's a double play. (Lugo's been good mostly with the D though). (also, I'm really starting to fall for J.D. - until the first pulled hamstring anyway) It's okay though, I can't think of a better place for Dice-K to get his second win than this Sunday @ Fenway against the MFYankees. *Devern has looked like the real thing so far for the PawSox . * Edes's notebook has Gabe Kapler forgetting to put Lester on the scorecard the other day, and the pitcher had to miss his start. He ended up throwing a simulated game instead. Gabe Kapler, who was willing to go to the low minors to learn how to manage, was caught by one of the game's technicalit...

An Exclusive Thank you Offer Dear Amanda, Pitching, pitching, pitching. You've got to love what the Rangers showed the Red Sox in their first series of 2007 at Rangers Ballpark. Robinson Tejeda reeled off seven impressive innings in the home opener victory, followed by six strong from staff ace Kevin Millwood in Saturday's win. Vicente Padilla then took the mound on Sunday and produced seven innings of his own with only three runs allowed. Not bad. Not bad at all. And, you know, as the weather heats up, so too will the Rangers bats. Michael Young, Mark Teixeira, Kenny Lofton, Hank Blalock, Sammy Sosa...that's an All-Star lineup if ever there was one. Yes, this is shaping up to be an exciting summer of baseball here in Texas! Don't miss a single second of the action with an exclusive Grand Slam Pick 3 Plan with savings up to 50% off regular individual game ticket prices. Choose from ANY three games on the 2007 schedule excluding May 1-3 or 26-27, June 19-21, and July 4. ...

How do you say, "no run support" in Japanese? . . . Daisuke.

This is a pretty funny article about a Red Sox fan who ran the marathon with Yankee garb . Joey Crawford was suspended for the rest of the season . And just incase someone hasn't seen it yet... Also, I did the ESPN draft calculator 8 times or so today, and got Oden once, Durant once, and Noah 6 times.

First of all, no links today, I have spent all day looking at the Virginia Tech reports. Such a terrible tragedy. My thoughts and prayers are with those poor kids and families today. Here are some pictures from me and Katelyn's Red Sox outing on Saturday for Curt's start against the Angels. We had standing room but found a pretty good spot and a very nice and cute boy named Kevin who sat in front of us. As for the Sox, for the record, I don't think you can sweep the series when a game is postponed. I think if they win on the makeup then it is a sweep. I think MLB should stop scheduling West Coast team's one trip to the East Coast in April. Seattle has a roof and Anaheim is alway nice, why not start there. I think that I'm not engraving Josh's Cy Young yet. But I'm giddy none the less. I'm glad we are heading to a dome so we have a somewhat return to normalcy schedule wise / I have some time to watch games on TV rather than in person (that was ...

*The Dodgers paid tribute to Jackie Robinson yesterday wearing #42 (along with much of MLB) and had Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson throwing out the first pitches. It's important to note here I think that Hank Aaron could make it to this, but says he's too old to fly to San Fran for Bonds 755 or even to drive up to go to Turner Field if Bonds breaks the record in Atlanta. (I think we all know where Hank is on this matter). The Red Sox have now tried to honor Red Auerbach and Jackie Robinson and gotten rained out both times. *I am very sick of hearing about the whole Imus thing, but I think this was very well said and well written and worth a read. *Sox are throwing the top 3 at the Yankees this weekend. *The Reds have put old friend Alex Gonzalez on bereavement leave while he is home with his 7 month old son who is in the hospital. :( *Coco um, sucks says Tony Mazz . *The Angels bus was supposed to leave the hotel for the game today at 8:00 AM . I feel so bad for them. It mu...

Conor told me about this last night... hilarious !

Here is Kerry's rebuttle to mine and Katie's Texas Recaps... ok 1st things first it didn't matter what kind of car we had cuz as you remember we were with Colleen, and that suitcase wasn't gonna fit anywhere... 2. I tried getting out of the car but someone pushed me back into it (actually by my face) and I am pretty certain it was Katie! 3. You left out the fact that we are now gonna have to go to Laconia to kick some hill-billy ass 4. That even though Katie "made" herself throw up I am still the champ!!

As I said...I missed a few things...here are Katie's corrections: Considering you were comatose for a few days, I'm going to fill in the blanks for you/make some corrections: 1. Kerry and Colleen are the a-holes that wanted the PT Cruiser. Maybe if they had listened to us when we said the luggae wouldn't fit in the trunk, then Colleen wouldn't have been practically sitting on my lap on the way to the airport while she was vomiting. 2. I would gladly give up Youk for Mark. 3. When describing the scenary in TX you forgot to mention the Waffle House and Whattaburger. And the lack of cattle roaming free. 4. Humperdinks is the correct name. However, we took to calling it Tiddlywinks. 5. It might have been too cold to drink mixed drinks, but it was not too cold to drink beer. You should man up and try it. 6. You neglected to mention the sketchy friend who went to St Johns that we met at the Wyndham who swore that Peabody is a 10 minute drive from Boston. 7. We didn't ACCI...

from the last 5 games... *I think Dice-K was getting squeezed last night. I also think if I was the coach, I would have been tossed for arguing balls and strikes. You’re getting no hit anyway, may as well try to fire up the offense right. *(non-Red Sox related), but Bridgewater State beat Newbury College by 57-1. If I was the AD at Bridgewater I would fire the coach, and if I was the coach at Newbury I’d be in jail for 2nd degree murder by way of baseball bat today. *I don’t care if conventional wisdom tells you that it’s better to have a great pitcher pitch 200 in starting pitching rather than 80 in relief. After two annoying losses in Texas, it was a beautiful thing watching #58 run in from the bullpen. *During the little scrum on Opening Day, Papelbon hopped over the bullpen wall, threw off his jacket, and sprinted in. I feel like you should know that. *After Hernandez gave up the hit, he should have hit a Red Sox, especially after Dice-K hit Guillen. *I forgot to mention this ...

Okay, as promised, a Texas recap. Also as promised, giant bits of information are probably missing. Friday We started off Friday morning at 4:00, with Kerry’s alarm does not go off. Great way to start the day. Kerry and I had to get ready in 6 minutes. Clearly Colleen was not involved. We flew out of Manchester and arrived in Newark at 7:33 with exactly 33 minutes to go from Terminal C to Terminal A. Good work Expedia. (more on them and how I plane to take down their entire corporation in a little bit). Anyway, after nearly missing the shuttle bus, running up and down the terminals, we arrive at our gate. The Continental lady gives us a knowing look, “Manchester?”. We get onto the plane and the flight attendant greets us with a, “We didn’t think you would make it!”. We finally get to Dallas about 11:30, grab our bags (just kidding, Continental lost those. More on how I plan to take them down in just a bit). After filling out the freaking lost baggage claim, we grab our re...

Last night after flying from Atlanta and going to Opening Day at Fenway, I went to a charity baseketball game where some New England Patriots played my local police department. It was super cute. Ellis and Kevin had their kids with them. Those Patriots in attendance were: Bam Childress, Ellis Hobbs, Kevin Faulk, Don Davis, Logan Mankins, Russ Hochstein, and Santonio Thomas. I think that is everyone. They were all really good basketball players. I was amazed by how short Ellis and Bam were but how high they could jump. Ellis Hobbs (very handsome) and Don Davis Logan Mankins is a house of a man. I think this guy is marrying someone from Assumption. I don't know why they are so dark. Ellis someone's ridiculous Bentley or something outside.

Oh, is there a prettier sight in sports than Fenway Park? I don't think so... Going to take some getting used to seeing J.D. in right My ridiculous friends

I'm currently working on a Texas recap (and it is harder than you'd think because of some um, blackout issues), but in the mean time, here are just a few links... *BSM had all the links from Opening Day and Matsuzaka Mania. *The AP is reporting all charges against the Duke lacrosse team are going to be dropped. *I read this in the Atlanta Journal Constitution yesterday (one of my favorite airport newspapers) yesterday. Hank Aaron will not attend any kind of ceremony for Barry Bonds . *Jeff Francour had 5 RBI's yesterday. I knew I should have picked him for at least one of my fantasy teams! *Jon Lester had another strong start in Greenville . *Peter King's MMQB had some good Pats and Sox stuff. *This is kind of a nice story about how a bunch of Brewer's fans came out to cheer on the Indians who are playing some games in Miller Park b/c Cleveland is covered in snow. I'll be back later with some Opening Day pictures, Patriot pictures, and whatever I can reme...

Me and my friend, Josh the bartender, who quickly became my enemy after some shot (shots?)of Jack Daniels. me and my new best friends Rob and ______? Me and ___________? Me, Kerry and a boy who appears to be 14 years old?

Curt walking in. I would have paid him 500 bucks for that parka. Manny Again...we were in left field for the whole series. Literally and figuratively .