Musings from Mandy

"They show no class, no class at all, and maybe that comes from the head coach" L "I steal nick names and am a little bitch" T Good afternoon! I am going to be semi-live blogging today while I eagerlly await tonights killer matchups. Chargers @ Patriots and Yankees @ Red Sox. A very busy night in New England. I am in prime form. I alept till 11:00. Had some homefries and sweet tea. Watched the pregame shows. I'm ready to go. I got 7 hours to kill and you do too... A few thoughts from the pregame show... *Boomer annoys me. *Why do we need so many people on the show? *Everyone likes the Patriots. Me too. *"Coach" Mike Ditka keeps forgetting his picks. Good work "Coach". I once coached a basketball team at the Boys Club. From this day forth, I would like to be called, "Coach" please. *Eli Manning will play today. Well thank God. I still can't get over the feeling that Eli would rather be running around a field with ...

Kerry and I left our lake house in NH at 5:30 on Thursday morning, picked up Colleen and her 34 Vera Bradley bags at 7:45, we were off to Cooperstown. We got there in a little under four hours, thanks to my fantastic navigation skills and superb parking job, we entered the hall about 12. As soon as we entered we realized our first mistake. Going during the summer. Little kids EVERYWHERE. Now I love little kids, but only if we share DNA. These little rugrats where everywhere, getting in my way, stepping on my feet, and standing in front of my camera. So, we immediately decided that if we ever go to Cooperstown again, we are going during the day, during the school year. Anyway, besides that, there is obviously a ton of cool stuff there, my favorite two items were the Cy Young jersey and THE sock. I have the complete album on my facebook, but here are a few of my favorite pictures. One thing I don’t like about the H of F is that there is so much stuff, it’s hard to walk through ...

Went to the Rangers game last night. I really wanted to get there early and yell at the Texas players how weak their fans are and how annoying the song, "Deep in the Heart of Texas" clap clap clap, but I had to return some overdue library books and go to the ATM on the way. As Katie and I were cutting through the common, a man yelled to us, "Going to the game?", we told him we were, and he asked who they were playing, we told him Texas, and he proceeded to argue that we were actually playing the Devil Rays and that Matsuzaka was pitching. You're a day early, buddy. Don't let this pony tail fool you Sir, I know my shit. There was no line at the Cask and Flagon, so we had to stop in and have a beverage. The Old Cask is 10 times better than the new Cask, by the way. Anyway, two drinks later we head into Fenway and stop behind home plate to watch the pre-game stuff and come to realize we are standing right next to Larry Lucchino donning a red hat with the...

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 ...

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 ...

*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...

*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...

So, turns out I didn't read much Sox news today. As great as Curt was, I didn't want to read about a near no-no. Anyways, Surviving Grady and Basegirl both did kick ass jobs recapping last night. Oh, and Katie and I had an IM conversation, and then exact contents showed up on Soxaholix . Because, I guess all great minds of RSN think alike. My favorite line from SG, Anyway, tonight we head to Areezonah where Beckett goes for number 9. Let's hope the bats show up. Especially Lugo's, as he's my second favorite player on the team. Of course, my first favorite is every other Sox player. My favorite line from Basegirl, But seriously, if I've told y'all once, I've told y'all a thousand times: Don't shake off 'Tek! The "y'all" in that sentence obviously referring to major league pitchers who stubbornly refuse to listen to me because I know that none of the lovely people that actually read this damn thing would DARE to shake off Ja...

Who would have thought a 1-0 CG shutout by Curt would carry such a sting? I got home from my company picnic in the top of the 7th. Sat down at the computer and tried to turn on the TV but the remote wasn't working, so I decided to check Surviving Grady, then go over and turn on the TV. In the comments, I saw someone mention the word, "perfection". I was in a bit of a quandry now. Is Curt pitching a No-No? A perfect game even? Do I turn on the TV or just go about my day as I was? Eventually I decide it is okay to turn on the TV, seeing there is still a full 3 innings to go. Then, I blew the whole freaking thing... After the 7th, Paul gets home from work and comes into the living room. He checks the Sox score. I look at him and say, "Paul, the Red Sox have all the hits today". And he looks at me confused, I repeat myself. Paul smiles and sits down on the couch, saying nothing, as is the custom not to blow these kind of things. My mom comes in and asks me to finish...

Okay, it's Mr. Schilling's turn to play the stopper, a role played very well by Mr. Tavarez, Mr. Matsuzaka, and Mr. Wakefield the past three nights. Now all we need is some runs. Maybe our 70 million dollar right fielder will help out. Isn't that picture fun? Curt with the Yankee Hater hat. Old friend Keith Foulke, and Bruin's jerseys. I only break out the bloody sock on very, very special occasions. Trying to avoid the first sweep of 2007? I'll go with that being a special occasion.

*Doug Mientkiewicz was kept overnight at Mass General last night with a concussion, cervical sprain, and a broken wrist. I am absolutely, 100% shocked the Yankee trainer didn't collar and board him and send him directly to the ambulance. It was entirely possible with the way his neck twisted and hit the pavement that he had broken something. Red Sox MLB had this to say, "I feel bad for Doug. You don't want anything like that happening. We go way back, I mean, I played against him when I was 15 years old in high school. We hit together this offseason, and I've got a lot of respect for him." *Lowell also took out Robinson Cano who thought it was a "dirty" play but Joe Torre thought it was fine. Not that I care what either one of them think. Also, it says here Michael has a WS ring from 1998 for playing a few games for the Yanks that year. *Here's the game report on a rough one at the Fens yesterday, where Curt pitched good enough to lose.

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...

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 ...

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."

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...

*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...

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 ...

As if you didn't already know, the Red Sox and Curt Schilling open their season tonight against The Kansas City Royals and Gil Meche. Personally I try to make it my rule in life to never trust anyone named Gil. Obviously a ton of preview articles today. I'll list them out in order of my favorites, along with my favorite part, incase you don't have time to read all 23 like I do. Beckett chills: Boston's ace-in-waiting has discovered a comfort zone following difficult 2006 season , by Rob Bradford. "I had been a part of a lot of different things, but that is totally different," said Beckett of the opener. "Fenway Park. First game of the season. Boston, Massachusetts. Everybody is pretty excited. I remember warming up and thinking this is right up there with Game 6 of the World Series. It had the same feeling" (hands down the best article out there today) Kevin Gray on Baseball: Finally, the real thing , by Kevin Gray (obvioulsy) Winter came much ear...