Musings from Mandy

WOOWEEE! Jacoby Ellsbury is starting for the Red Sox this evening! (that is his facebook picture...I never said I wasn't creepy)

I know I slacked on Thursday and Friday, but who wants to talk about losses? or 32 year old guard? Not me. Anyway, the Sox came home yesterday and all was well in Red Sox Nation. Wake pitched great. Delcarmen got the job done. (How cute was it when Mikey went out to talk to him?). Then, Mr. Jonathan Papelbon came out to close things in the 9th in grand fashion. A K, a very long fly ball, then an extremely close play at first where it looked like got him on the replay, but, as we all know, ties go to the runner, Kenny Lofton in this case. Cinco-Ocho took exception, and had a few, er, many choice words for the umpire, until the little second baseman that could came over and pushed him away. (Thank God he didn't get tossed). He came back, hit Jerry Hairston on the hand. Regained his composure, and came back to get the K to end the game. I've watched the game twice, once in real time, once on the midnight replay, and now it's on again in the backround. One thing ...

Last night NESN debuted Globe 10.0, hosted by Bob Ryan with special guest...Dan Shaughnessy! Now, I only caught a few minutes. But, who cares what Bob and Dan thing, when you can hear what I think! I wish they had done a "big finish" like PTI did. If you're going to copy the show, copy the show. Is Mark Buehrle worth the price? The rumor mill was swirling yesterday that the RSox were trading Lester and Ellsbury to the WSox for Buehrle and MacDonald. I was under my desk in the fetal position breathing into a brown paperbag. Now I know the wisdom behind proven talent over prospects, and Buehrle is a very good pitcher, he's a lefty, his career record is something like 100-70, he's durable. What we know about Lester is that he's been solid early in return, has struggled as of late, and was 7-2 with a high era and wasn't able to get out of the 5th a lot. But that doesn't matter. Because he's ours. He had us researching lymphoma and saying pray...

Station this wagon By Eric Wilbur, Boston.com Staff Here’s a memo to all the front-running, bandwagon, pink-hat-wearing fans that have infiltrated ballparks from Seattle to Atlanta: Find another team. It’s been a nice ride. But frankly, I can no longer take your nightly dominating presence at visiting ballparks, a plague of obnoxious team pride that has little to do with actually being a fan of the team. I understand success breeds contempt, but rarely does it divide members of the same rooting interests, a fine line that is threatening to secede the true members of Red Sox Nation from the card-carrying yahoos. I’m sure there were plenty of honest-to-goodness Red Sox fans packing Safeco Field last night, when Boston fell to Seattle, 9-4. But please. Not that many. The term Fenway West isn’t even relevant anymore because it seems every ballpark is Fenway these days. San Diego? Fine. It’s clear that Southern California is a hotbed for Boston transplants, so it stands to reason that fans ...

How about the play by the security guard? With the batting helmet? For cases such as these apparently. (You can fast forward through the first minute or so)

I hate the ESPY’s. I think they are annoying, contrived, meaningless, and a blatant display of self promotion. That being said, I usually really enjoy tuning in, because, despite all my pleas, paparazzi usually don’t follow my favorite athletes. So, the ESPY’s are a great excuse to tune and see what exactly your favorite athlete dressed up and it gives you a chance to check out what the wife looks like. This always leads to fun comments like, “She was cute when she was a freshman in high school I swear”, or, “Time to upgrade to the 2007 model”, or “We clearly have a child born three months after we were married”. Hey, I never said I was nice. So today I’m checking in, and I see a headline Colts up for Six ESPY’s Vote Now ! Now, I hate the ESPY’s. They are fake. They are made up. I would never vote. However. The Colts are up for six awards. We all know how I feel about the Colts. I don’t even want them wining fake awards. So I decide that in between ignoring my data entry, checking emai...

My grandparents on my Dad's side originate from Prince Edward Island in Canada, and, I have somehow become "Canadian" as far as my friends are concerned. But, I can't help that I love Canada. The people are nice, the cities are safe, Montreal might be my favorite North American city, and you get 30 cents on the dollar. Not to mention that the drinking age is 18, which, doesn't matter now, but mattered when I was 19. Anyway, Sportsguy loves Canada too, so I'm passing along what he has to say. Canada might be 15 years behind the United States in every respect -- this would explain the ongoing affection for Bryan Adams -- although that time-warp factor is also one of the reasons Canada remains my second-favorite country behind Australia. (Some of the others: the superb national anthem, Bobby Orr, the NHL draft, Molson commercials, the Edmonton crowd, the city of Montreal, John Candy, Canadian money, Canada Cup '72, the sneaky sense of humor from every Can...

The Lowell Spinners had Stephen Gostkowski night last night (he was a baseball player in college), and he kicked footballs into the stand, and was, in a word, adorable. I knew this was going on but couldn't get tickets. Grr.

*First off today, some very sad news out of Arizona. Former Red Sox pitcher Rod Beck was found dead in his Arizona home . He was just 38 years old. Foul play is not suspected. Some of the Red Sox remembered Beck yesterday . *Sportsguy compares Durant and Oden . Will he ever write about baseball or football again? Probably not. He also has a diary of the NHL draft . I know, I'm as surprised as you are. *The White Sox GM is unhappy with his teams play and is going to make some moves . Rumor has it that the Red Sox are first in line for Mark Buehrle right now . We trade Lester or Jacoby, Theo is going to have a very unhappy SoxGal on his doorstep. The big names that have come up so far are Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden, Jacoby, and Jed Lowrie. I guess also in the trade the Sox will give Buehrle a 5 year contract extension. "I'm not a big Buerhle guy at all,” Eckersley said this morning in an interview on Boston sports radio station WEEI. “Talk about pitching to contact. Every...

As we all know, yesterday the best pitcher in the AL this year, Josh Beckett, faced off against the best pitcher in the NL, Jake Peavy. Peavy was out-dueled by Beckett, so this mornings feature is dedicated to two of the hottest pitchers in baseball (and I'm not just talking about their pitching). Age Beckett: 27 Peavy: 26 Birthdate Beckett: May 15, 1980 Peavy: May 31, 1981 Throws Beckett: Righty Peavy: Righty Bats Beckett: Righty Peavy: Righty Hometown Beckett: Spring TX Peavy: Mobile, AL Marital Status Beckett: Single Peavy: Married to Katie Children Beckett: None that we know of Peavy: Jacob Edward II and Wyatt Draft Status Beckett: First Round, Second Pick, by the Florida Marlins in 1999 draft Peavy: 15th Round by the San Diego Padres MLB Debut Beckett: September 4, 2001 Peavy: June 22, 2002 Injuries Beckett: Blisters Peavy: Shoulder tendenitis from over throwing / poor mechanics in the World Baseball Classic. Legal Troubles Beckett: None Peavy: Was arrested outside Mobile Cou...

found on Surviving Grady...

So, the other day I was reading my ESPN the Mag, and there was a section about the best way to get autographs. Now, I have to say, autographs have never done much for me. I'd much rather get my picture taken with the player then have them sign something that will end up in a photo album and then eventually get ruined when the basement floods. In my autograph collection, I have Nancy Kerrigan (at Toys “R” us when I was maybe 12). (Funny side story, I need a piece of paper, so my dad handed me a notebook that we hadn’t bought yet, and I thought for sure I was going to get arrested. And then, my dad wouldn’t even buy the notebook that I had used to get the autograph, he just tore out the page and put it his pocket…and I was horrified we were stealing paper!). My second autograph is ML Carr. My mom won some contest when she worked in the bakery at Shaw’s (I’m serious, she worked there). So my dad and I got to go play basketball on the court at the Garden. The real Garden, not TD Bankno...

I'm going to have a real update in a bit but I didn't want you to wait on this. It's from Kissing Suzy Kolber, and is about a certain Patriot running back's facebook page .

10 thoughts... First, tomorrow I am going to introduce my kick ass sociology experiment. So you can all look forward to that. But keep in mind that I squeeked through Intro to Sociolgy with a C- because instead of actually finishing my final project, I went to the Dive and just passed in whatever I had already done the next day. It actually might not be a sociology experiment, but it is definitely an experiment. Second, I'm glad to hear nothing is seriously physically wrong with Curt, and am glad that they are putting him on the DL anyway. We need him healthy in the fall. It's also important to note that I feel like a complete jerk about my letter that I wrote to him the other day. Third, my fantasy team is trying to kill me. I have a guy on there named Doug Brocial. He plays for the Padres. I don't know whether he is a lefty or a righty or what he looks like, but I do know he's been very reliable this year. So when I come in to work this morning, I see I'v...

As we are heading on into the All Star break, I decided to give you an update on my fantasy teams. One is horrible, and the other is just bad. We'll start off with the Sox Stalkers, who, unlike Papi's Posse, are in ICU, but not quite hooked up to the ventilator yet. Sox Stalkers C- Johnny Estrada (Much better than I thought he'd be. Batting .290) 1B- Gary Sheffield (.290 - 17 HRs - 49 RBI. And he's not a Yankee anymore. Very nice) 2B- Kelly Johnson (Just picked him up a few weeks ago, 2B has sucked for me all year) 3B- Mark Teahen (Also just picked him up, eh) 3B- Adrian Beltre (Acquired in the Manny / Mike Lowell for Peavy / Beltre trade. Eh) SS- Hanley Ramirez (Hurts my heart a little he's so good. Does have 13 errors). OF- Curtis Granderson (Not only a great blogger, but a solid 4th OF. Too bad he's my 2nd) OF- Carlos Beltran (Needs so raise his power numbers, 9 home runs and 38 RBI...killing me Carlos) OF- Randy Winn (Batting a solid .296) OF...

Dear Mr. Schilling, While I know you are a member of the Boston Red Sox, that is not your only team. You are also a member of the Sox Stalkers. I know your alliances largely lie with the first team. The one that pays you $13 million dollars a year. However, that doesn't mean you can just go right ahead and blow off the second one. Do you know what your ERA was last night? 12.46!! And your WHIP? 2.77!! And only 4 and 1/3? FOUR AND A THIRD!! Now Curt, you know I love you. I defend the blog against people who think you should just shut up. I think that Theo should have already resigned you, even though minus Oakland we haven't exactly seen domination. As manager of the Sox Stalkers, we need to work out some kind of deal. I need you to call me when you don't think you're going to have it. I've done a lot of work to improve our pitching staff. I acquired Jake Peavy. I picked up stud free agents like the entire San Diego bullpen (I think Kevin Towers is ...

I wake up this morning at 6:45 and am incredibly tired. Exceptional tired. Unable-to-pick-my-big-head-of-the-freaking-pillow tired. I roll back over, even though the bus comes at 7:00, and of course, wake up at 7:10 (on my clock, which is about 10 minutes fast). Now I have missed the bus and am going to be late. I decide I’ll take the car, drive to Wellington and take the T. I brush my teeth, throw on a shirt, skirt, and flip flops, and run up the stairs. I get into the kitchen, and happen to glance at the clock on the stove. 6:15. I had, apparently, woken up at 5:45 (which, no wonder I was so tired), and then thought I had turned off my alarm in my sleep, which, I had not, and in reality, was ready almost a full hour earlier than I needed to be. So, I went back down stairs, climbed into bed and reset my alarm for 6:55, because at least now I was all dressed and ready to go. I hate Mondays. Anyway, how about those Red Sox. I’d like to thank the Giants for stopping by, it was...

I'm going to have a regular, good old fashioned update later, but first I had to post this. It's from the blog, " The Soul of Baseball " by Joe Posnanski of the KC Star, and has made a list of the top 25 pitchers who would be likely to throw a no hitter on any given day. I had re-post the section on Pedro, because, there was nothing better than waking up in the morning and knowing we had Pedro on the mound that night. 3. Pedro Martinez No-hit quotient: 390 Did he throw a no-hitter? Yes, sort of. Did he have any close calls? Yes. It’s easy to confuse Pedro’s amazing games. He threw a one-hitter against the Reds in 1997, but that was the game when Bret Boone got the only single in the fifth inning. He threw the nine-inning perfect game against San Diego in 1995, but in the 10th inning he gave up a double to Bip Roberts (the Bipper!) and so that one isn’t in the record books as a no-hitter. There was the game in 1994 when he had a perfect game going into the eighth inn...

When I was, eh, maybe 15 years old, I saw in interview with Barry Bonds and Steve Sax (I think that’s his name), and I was appalled by how arrogant, how condescending, and how rude Barry was. Then, Steve asked Barry who the greatest player to ever play the game was, and Barry replied, “I am, how can I possibly play this game if I thought anything different.” So let me get this straight Barry, the game is only worth playing if you’re the best? Well, if you are the best, then what is the point of everyone else playing too? I think every other major league ball player should probably just pack up and go home. And leave you to play with yourself, all your friends (0), and all your rings (0). Forgive me Mr. Bonds, but I think the mark of a great player is the ability to make his team better, himself better, and to win a championship. Sure, you need the stats, but more importantly, you should want the ring. That makes Tom great, it makes Papi great, it’s what made Bird great and it’s what ma...

A lot of people say to me, "Soxgal, where the hell did you find that out?" The answer of course, is on of my random links. I'm getting ready to move on from my job, and I didn't want to leave all the great links behind. So here is a list of all the great, albeit random links I love. Newspaper Links http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/blog/ http://wbztv.com/roche/ http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/ http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/thebuzz/ http://www.boston.com/sports/nesn/wilbur/ http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/ http://www.bradfordfiles.com/ http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/redSox/ http://touchingallthebases.blogspot.com/ http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=olney_buster http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=gammons_peter&univLogin02=stateChanged http://www.bostonherald.com/multimedia/soxsalary03302007/soxsalary.pdf http://www.boston.com/news/necn/Sports/blog/ http://www.bost...

You know how every once and a while in Little League, you'd end up with 8 kids, and you'd have to take an out in their place? That is how I feel whenever Crisp and Lugo are up. Like they are automatically an out. Something is clearly up with Mike Lowell's fielding, and quite frankly, I blame Julio Lugo. How could this be Lugo's fault you ask? Well, Mike has spent is entire career playing 3rd base next to Alex Gonzalez, who, is a fielding wizard. Because Mike is now next to Lugo, who has the range of my stove (pun intended), he is going after balls that should be the shortstops, and therefore increasing his error total. Bullshit you say? I don't care. When in doubt, I am going to blame Lugo. *I have spent hours reading all the stuff here, and I don't even collect autographs. Just an excellent time . *Justin Verlander threw a no-no the other night incase you missed it, and he was hitting triple digits in the 9th. Crazy. *This is the ugliest thing I have ever se...

Great game last night. I got to bed about 1:30 and got on the bus about 7. Never a good time, but well worth it to see Timmay dominate the Rockies and Jonathan come take care of buisness in the 9th. I promise to have a good entry tomorrow, but in the mean time, here's the best article I've read in a long time. I highly recommend tissues.

*To lead off today, we have some photoshop genius from BostonDirtDogs acknowledging some of the holes in our offense. Good thing they aren't batting first and second. *So, as stated in yesterdays post. I had some inside info that Mike Lowell was at the Children's Museum yesterday. When I left work at 4:30, I followed my normal path home. I had a bit of a dilema. Do I swing by Au Bon Pain and get a water? Just incase Mike had the same idea? Do I maybe go admire the new construction? Just incase Mike was doing the same? I eventually decided that I would do the admirable thing and go home. I walked to the bus and got to the intersection of Congress / State and as I'm waiting to cross I'm 97% sure that I saw Brendan Merriweather. As I was waiting, a guy drives by me and I think to myself, "that looked just like Brendan Merriweather". After he passes, I check out the license plate, and it was from Florida. Of course, it was entirely possible it wasn...

So I'm on the phone at about 3:15 doing an exit interview with yet another disgruntled employee who is leaving. I always shut the door to my office when I'm on calls like this because, frankly, I work with retards who will stand in front of me the entire time I'm on the phone to wait for me to finish. I'm so glad that working in HR, my workspace is private and people respect the confidentiality of my role. Awesome! As I said, I'm on the phone, and my door is shut. One co-worker barges in and tried to get my attention. I point to the phone and mouth "come back later". A second one does the same thing, followed by a third, fourth, fifth, and finally sixth. Through my window that looks into the hallway in my office, I see that a small group has gathered. Finally, Julia (the girl I share an office with) goes out into the hallway to see what's going on. Five seconds later, she walks back into the office, shuts the door, glances at me, and sits down...

*The Sox had a solid weekend in Arizona, although the bats are still quieter than I would like. Joshua dominated Friday, Julian took care of buisness, and Dice-K pitched good enough to win yesterday, says Jeff Horrigan . The Sox have today off, and get back at it on Tuesday they host the Rockies, and Soxgal. *If you haven't read Curt's recap of his near no-no, please do so immediately. *The Sox are now 40-22 on the season, and 9.5 up on the 2nd place New York Yankees, and 11.5 up on the last place Tampa Bay Devil Rays. *After 6 weeks as #1 upon the ESPN Power Rankings, the Sox dropped to 2nd, with the Padres taking over the top slot . *The Nuggets had a rough week, with J.R. Smith being thrown from a car during an accident and one of the passengers in the car having severe head injuries, and another Nugget DeeMar Johnson was tasered and arrested outside a night club. *Julian Tavarez has his own cure to fix his own blister problem. *Mike Reiss, as always has some good stuf...