Musings from Mandy

Please read this article about Tom , and then watch the video. As if I didn't love him enough already.

Even the NY Daily News is hopping on Stray-Rod bandwagon. This has all kinds of good gossip .

#482 I don't know why the video won't post here, but you can go to the link here . *And, for good measure, A-Rod being chased for autographs by a bunch of kids wearing Jeter shirts.

Who doesn't love those Papelbon brothers ?

* Someone is going to be in the dog house . *Trot Nixon deserves the tip of a dirty hat . The only other time I've heard applause that loud was when the Sox came back against the Yankees and Okajima got the save earlier in the year. It was awesome. *The Sox right now, it appears, can do no wrong . Josh Beckett came back from his 15 days on the DL and got his MLB leading 8th victory . *Roger Clemens will not make his first start against the Sox, and the Red Sox are skipping Tavarez's start to align their rotation against the Yanks. It will be Wang and Wake Friday, Moose and Schill Saturday, and Andy and Joshua on Sunday. Tavarez's next start will be against the A's on Monday, with Matsuzaka taking the ball the following day. (Also in there it says Ortiz took BP yesterday, but his hammy is still bothering him.)

The death of Patriots DE Marquise Hill was ruled an accidental drowning yesterday . His fiancee remembers him in this article . And here is another article on how his mom kept him on the straight and narrow .

Not much to talk about with no game last night. The Sox are in Dallas (bored, I'd imagine), and Dice-K is on the hill tonight. Everyone have a good weekend. I'll check in if anything big happens this weekend, otherwise, see you Tuesday. Go Senators! *LeBron almost beat the Pistons again. He takes the shot in game 1 and gets the foul call in game 2, this whole series could be different. Or, so I've been told. Haven't actually watched one minute. *Youk is great . *Sean McAdam says the Sox have three weaknesses... J.D. Drew, the bullpen, and CF . * Did A-Rod apologize to Pedroia ? Does anyone care? *John Smoltz got his 200th and denied Tom Glavine the chance to move closer to 300. *NFL security is offering to help Virginia in the Vick dog fighting case. * Things got fiesty in Florida last night between the Marlins and Phillies. *Jeter passed Joe Dimaggio on the all time Yankee hit list. That's crazy. * Josh Hancock's dad is suing the restaurant that ...

So, I didn't want to talk about last nights game clearly, and there is no game to talk about tonight, so, instead, I'm leaving you with a fun thing I found today... ^ Rules for the above map is that I have been to the state (and airports don't count). I didn't stay overnight in every place, but I'm pretty sure I spent enough time in Delaware driving to North Carolina to know that I would never stay the night there. ^ Rules for this map is any place I have been to, airports counting.

"It doesn't matter. I could throw a perfect game and in my next start throw a perfect game... Jon Lester comes back here and this job belongs to him. . . . That lefthander is going to be one of the greatest in baseball.. . . I'd be more than happy to give him his position. This is not about being the No. 5 starter or about hoping that Jon Lester doesn't come here quick. If there's one thing that I want in my life right now it's that Jon be healthy and come back and play for this team because he's going to help us get to the World Series." Julian Tavarez

A-Rod does some bizarre take out slide to take care of Pedroia last night. Which, didn't end up mattering as the Sox took care of MFY once again. Manny and Mike Lowell homered and Tavarez pitched well on his 34th birthday. Eh, does this feel 1/2 hearted? I'm too bummed out about the C's to write something great. But I will say to Boston fans everywhere, "Now don't be sad, cause 2/3 ain't bad"

The absolute worst thing that could have possibly happened to the Celtics, happened. I mean, what did Portland to do to deserve Oden? And Seattle? They don't even know where they will be playing next year!! Seriously? Seriously? Sportsguy wrote about karma yesterday (And quite frankly I'm a little concerned we haven't heard from them yet.)...I really think karma took the night off last night. The Celtics were due for something good to happen to them, and it...well it didn't. However, one thing I want to mention is that the Celtics hired extra people to man the phones to take season ticket orders today...and (I'm just assuming this isn't usually there), a 1/2 page ad in the Globe. Do they know nothing? That is just like mapping out the victory parade before the championship win. I've only read the Globe coverage at home, but Peter May has a good recap of last night while Bob Ryan wonders what exactly this is the curse of? A look at it from the owne...

I was an angry Red Sox fan last night. It may have been the 4 raw teas I chugged when I got home. It may have been that the Yankees tend to do that to me, it could be the fact that I have Wakefield on my fantasy team too. Mainly, I think it is that I hate watching him pitch for my real team, then I have to deal with him sucking for my fantasy team too. And it's not just the 6 runs, it's also the fact that games seem to take forever when he pitches, and that the knuckleball isn't that exciting to watch. I would much rather roll the dice (no reference to Dice-K intended) with Gabbard, Lester, or even one of the really baby babies. I'm tired of watching high knuckleballs dance their way right out to the upper deck of Yankee Stadium. (that, and I think everytime I see Tim out there I get flashbacks to a year...four years ago...didn't get out of bed for a week...don't want to talk about it). Anyway, got Julian tonight. Hopefully he has some momentum going for...

Hello MFY, so we meet again. It’s nearly June and the Red Sox are (get ready, breathe in, breathe out) 10 and a half games up on the 2nd place Yankees and Orioles, and…drum roll please, only 1 and one half game out of last place. See Devil Rays fans (all 3 of you), there is hope for you yet! Anyway, two months in and heading into the 3rd Yankees series of the season…here are some of my thoughts: *I don’t want Karma to take this the wrong way, but it almost seems like it’s going too easy. I mean, I’m a Boston fan, I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. (all while hoping it doesn’t). *Dr. Charles Steinberg is really responsible for Papelbon having “Shipping up to Boston” play when he gets to the mound? And here I was so excited that he loves that song. (and another thing, I hate people called doctor that aren’t actually the people you want working on you when you drop from a heart attack or something…If I ever get a doctorate of History or something, I am not having people call me...

Well, how about them Red Sox? The Sox doubled up on the Tigers twice yesterday, beating the Tigers 2-1 in the first game, with Julian Taverez pitching a great game, going seven innings, allowing four hits and one run. Coco scored a run on a Manny RBI (both members of Sox Stalkers, not that it does me a whole hell of a lot of good), and then Okajima pitched a scoreless 8th and Papelbon K'ed the first two outs of the 9th before getting a weak grounder to Lugo for the last out. Tavarez also had a fantastic quote. "Jonathan, we call him 'Gasolina'. This guy goes six, seven days without pitching and then he goes out there and throws 95, 96 without walking anybody. No panic with Pap. Once the game gets to the ninth inning, it's over. That's how we see it with Jonathan." *Curt beat the Tigers 4-2 in the second game (although of course didn't get the win, because that would help my fricking fantasy team). (Confession time - I don't know too much about w...

but I PROMISE to have a great blog entry tomorrow!

Awesome game last night. Here are a few random thoughts because I'm too tired to put together a coherant paragraph. *I'm very thankful that Curtis Granderson's HR didn't end up being the difference, after I jokingly cheered for him during introductions and kept singing his praises the first few innings.(he's a SoxStalker {my fantasy team} and he writes a great blog on MLB Insider on ESPN.com) *Me and Katie were annoyingly keeping any eye on the empty owner's seats, and eventually they appeared to be filled with a tall blond and a tall dark haired gentleman with slight sideburns. We both immediately got nervous that it was Tom, so I had to go down and investigate. Alas, it was not Tom. I did find it funny thought that in the owners seats John Henry sat in the 2nd row and let his guests sit in the first. It wasn't a completely wasted trip however, because I did have a sweet seat for an inning or so. *And on the way back up I saw Mrs. Papelbon, Mrs. Varite...

Went to the game yesterday. Sometimes I swear you just know something good is going to happen. After standing behind home plate for most of the game, and my 13 year old cousin Ty decided to sneak down to the good seats. We ended up getting to 5 rows back for the whole 9th. It was unbelievable. In an inning where you needed everything to go right, we got everything to go right. I still have no idea why you would take Jeremy Guthrie out in that situation...he had only thrown 91 pitches! (but, thanks anyway Orioles, a good time as always). As for Josh, nothing worse than being at the game when something happens like your starter getting taken out early and having no idea what is going on. *Also, a note to the media that seems to be annoying Mr. Ortiz. I want to make it clear right now, you make David unhappy or put him an a bad light, I will hunt you down, and I will hurt you, then, I will burn your house down. Okay? Just want to make sure we are on the same page here. ::lookin...

from www.redsoxchick.com

Jonathan Papelbon chimed in on Barry and Schill. “This is the most balanced team I’ve probably ever been on and the most professional team… besides the things that Schill said yesterday about Barry, that wasn’t too professional , but we’re just a really balanced team. We’re good because we pick each other up.” When asked if Barry is good for baseball... “Yeah definitely. He’s doing it for baseball. And I think it’s good for baseball . And I think that he’s going out there and crushing home runs and getting baseball back to where it was in the late 1990s and such that, hey, fans are going to come out and see the home runs, there’s no doubt about it. And fans will come see good pitching. And I think he’s doing great for the game itself, so I can’t complain.” Barry Bonds is good for baseball the way that vodka is good for my liver.

* Boston Sports Media has all the links from last nights win. Dice-K looked great and my love for Mike Lowell grows daily. As far as the whole Barry Bonds debacle, Ortiz shouldn't be suprised where the Herald went with his steroids comments. And I think Curt was right both in what he said and apolgizing . As we know, the story is always about us. * Dale Earnhardt Jr. is considering leaving Dale Earnhardt International because him and his stepmom can't work out a deal. Don't you think Dale Earnhardt Sr. should have had some kind of will about this? *Roger Clemens is um, a little bitch . But you knew that already. *Hanley Ramirez is nasty , but no one is noticing says Ethan J. Skolnick. Well Mr. Skolnick, I assure you, a small piece of my heart dies everytime he goes 4-4. Maybe people in South Florida don't notice, but I assure you, us Bostonians do. (not that that means I love Joshua any less). *Torii "why the extra I?" Hunter made his number one web ...

I don't know where this picture is from but it was posted on the comments of Surviving Grady yesterday and I thought it was funny. Jon Lester on the left, Chad Spann throwing the ball, and they look about 15. I didn't catch a ton of the game last night because 1. I had to cook dinner because my mom is sick, and 2. It was the season finale of The Deadliest Catch . In case anyone missed it, Captain Phil won the most amount of crab, but Capt. Sig's boat made the most money per deckhand, and the Captain with the highest average crab per pot was Jonathan's boat, which had some good karma working for them after they saved that guy from the other boat. And, incase you were were wondering, me and Paul's favorite Capt. is Sig. *The Sox brought their bats to Toronto and got Josh plenty of run support. *Jemele Hill has a letter to God , ask him to stop Barry from breaking Hank's record. *Ellis Hobbs is ready to go . *Manny and Craig had a rough night for the Paw Sox. *Bi...

Manny lovingly stroking Julian Tavarez from the other night. Joshua goes for 7-0 tonight...weee! (this may be it for the day unless something groundbreaking happens, got a lot of work to do!).

Curt updated his blog to say what he had to say about CHB's misrepresentation of his quote. His reaction is exactly what I was saying yesterday, in his position, what else would you have wanted him to say? "Well, we were going to win the World Series, but now, well, we're screwed!" My favorite part of this is, "I’ll take the Texan we got and pit him against anybody in the game over the next 5-10 years. He’s special and starting to show people a glimpse of what he’s going to be." Also, I agree with what SG said yesterday, "There's finally a villain on the 2007 Yankees. Just like the good old days. I was tired of talking myself into despising A-Rod and Posada."

For those of you still at work, SG has a new blog entry on the fight this weekend and R$o$g$e$r signing with the Yanks, including my favorite line of the day above from the mailbag.

Surprise Surprise, Roger is a Yankee. I really didn't see him signing with the Astros again as they continue to get worse each year. And I never really saw him coming back here either. So the Yankees have the Rog, which, I'm not sure I could have ever been completely comfortable rooting for him anyway ever. Roger is going to be making 4.5 million a month… Or, $640,857 a start Or, $107,142 per inning (if he averages 6 innings per start like last year) Or, $35,174 per out. That is just plain sick. *Carl Pavano went and saw his BFF Dr. Andrews and is probably going to require season-ending elbow surgery. *Lester is with the Sox and is going to be playing catch Tuesday in Toronto. *The other day I was saying that the Futures at Fenway game was actually at Fenway. But it isn't, its being played at McCoy. Why do they call it that? I guess NESN is broacasting the game, but couldn't someone have come up with a better name for it? *Red Sox fans... um, aren't amused . *...

Okay, Tom, I love you, you know that, I LOVE YOU, however, what is up with the man purse? If you have that much stuff to carry around, buy a backpack for crying out loud.

The word "tired" doesn't really describe my current state. "Exhaustion" is closer, but I'd say I'm some point past there as well. "Corpse" is probably the closest thing to how I feel this morning. I went to see the Sox beat the A's on Wednesday and the Mariner's on Thursday. Here are some quick thoughts: *Beckett looked great Wednesday (well, I mean, he always looks great). *I needed Manny to break out, both for my real team and my fantasy team. *I think Dice-K next year will be Beckett this year. There is going to be an adjustment period. *Unless your name is Okajima, then, you just dominate. (My favorite nickname I have heard so far, from the comments on Surviving Grady, is Japelbon. Very politically incorrect, and pretty awesome) *I am falling more in love with Mike Lowell by the minute, I loved his little shuffle step against the A's when he popped the ball out at second, I loved his quote after he hurt Piazza, "What,...

Here is thing with Tom wearing a Yankee's hat. If Tom was a full fledged Yankee's fan, it would make me unhappy, but I could understand, if maybe he didn't like a team growing up, he lives in NY, ect. My main problem is that he wears Red Sox hats too. In college, he played in one of the greatest rivalries in sports. You think he ever wore a Buckaye's hat when he was in Columbus? I don't think so. You can't have it both ways Tom. Either your with them or your with us. Here's the Inside Track article: Say it ain’t so, Tom! The ever-vigilant paparazzi snapped New England Patriots [ team stats ] QB/QT Tom Brady [ stats ] sashaying through the streets of New York City yesterday shamelessly sporting a New York Yankees cap! Tom and his galpal, soon to be ex-Victoria’s Secret model Gisele Bundchen, were strolling hand-in-hand in the West Village when he was snapped committing the horrid topper transgression. Red Sox [ team stats ] Nation was shocked and app...

Ugh. This rainy, shitty morning perfectly amplified my mood. First of all, I can no longer get out of my bed in the morning. (I am actually thinking of taking off my featherbed to make my bed less comfortable), then, I do the good old 50 yard dash to the bus (which, at very least, ammused my bus drive), then, I get to work a full 1/2 hour early (which is not a bad thing, except its an unpaid 1/2 hour spent in this god forsaken cube), I head over to Dunkin Donuts for an ice coffee, find 37 people in front of me, and end up settleing for a Metro ice coffee and corn muffin which are not nearly as satisfying. But of course, none of these things are the real reason I am in a terrible mood this morning, the real reason I am in a bad mood is this. Jonathan Papelbon is human after all. I know deep down I knew it all along, but with every blown save, a certian sense of smugness is lost. For example, I liked reminding all those Yankees fans out there of the pretty ERA that looked something like ...

Glasper learns the hard lessons of football I don't understand where the trainers and doctor was on this? The coach should have no say at all whether a player is ready or not.

A few afternoon links from Katie... First, the TMQ is amazed by the Patriots. Me too, TMQ, me too. New England: Traditionally the Belichick brain trust banks a high draft choice every year. In the 2006 draft, you knew Belichick was worried because it was smoke 'em if you got 'em -- the Patriots used every pick. This weekend the Flying Elvii returned to their previous management pattern, giving up a late first-rounder to bank San Francisco's 2008 first pick, then giving up a late third-round choice to bank Oakland's 2008 third. If the Patriots are banking picks again, that means Belichick thinks his roster is reloaded: which appears to be the case. Last season, New England nearly won the AFC championship despite having volunteers from the audience at wide receiver. Now Tom Brady will be throwing to Donte' Stallworth, Wes Welker and a perhaps-recharged Randy Moss, while the Pats' roster has gotten stronger in other areas, too. Plus New England is holding two ext...

*We all know how I feel about him, but I mean, how great is Tom Brady? Tom restructured his contract so that they could add Randy Moss and still come in under the cap. *Dan Shaugnessy says that love is blind when it comes to us Boston fans. Here is the thing with this article, he starts off strong, saying that we are blind when it comes to the Patriots acquiring Randy Moss, and that if the Sox had signed Barry Bonds this off season, we would have gotten on the bandwagon, and if the Sox sign Roger Clemens, then he'll go back to being the Rocket we all know and love. First of all, on Barry, I will never, ever, root for Barry Bonds. It has nothing to do with steriods, because, who really knows who is on and who is off and who has been on the juice. Do I think Bonds cheated? Yes. Am I sure that all my favorite players never did? No. So, I don't hate Barry Bonds because he's a cheater. I hate Barry Bonds because he's a dick. Dan then says to bring on Terrell Owens...