Wake Up, Boston!

mornin

Sox Update: Tim Wakefield and his stupid fucking knuckleball? Are you fucking kidding me? Its time for this one trick pony to retire to a nice golf course residence in Florida. But good for the Sox, they hit, hit and hit some more and beat Boston 8-2. AJ's 3-run homer was the key, though Rowand and Uribe also homered. Garland pitched another gem.

And the Twins lost...

Timo has really been hitting the cover the ball laterly, and from what I've seen, playing some good D as well. I say this because with the trading deadline rapidly approaching, and various ailing Sox going on and off the DL, I'd like to see Timo hang around. After last season (and most of this year) I am as surprised as anyone that I'd say that. But the guy is on a hot streak...

And speaking the of DL - Frank Thomas is back there... for 15 days. Here comes Ross Gload.

Trade rumors are swirling. I won't begin to speculate. But the only expendable guys I see on this team are Mr. Zero, Vizcaino, and Everett (and McCarthy). Beyond that, I'm not sure trading anyone is a good idea. It might fuck with the Sox chemistry too much.

Down On The Farm:

Charlotte (AAA): Borchard goes 3 for 4 with 2 homers, but a good effort by McCarthy (6 IP, 1 ER, 8 K) is wasted thanks to poor defense. Bajenaru gets the loss in relief.

Birmingham (AA): A balanced 6-4 win over Huntsville. Fields goes 2 for 4 with a homer and 3 RBIs.

Winston-Salem (A): Beat those bastards from Myrte Beach 4-3 in 10. Collaro goes 2 for 4 with 4 RBIs. Molina and hinton homered. Broadway strikes out 6 in 5 IP, giving up 3 ER.

Kannapolis (A): lose 7-4 to Charleston, though De Los Santos goes 3 for 4. Charleston has a pitcher whose last name is Coke. Oh, the marketing possibilities... the locker room jokes...

Bristol (R): Lose to Greenville 9-4. Cortez strikes out 4 in 2 IP, but also yields 2 ER.

Great Falls (R): Great Falls unveil their new Sox logo and go on to a 13-10 win over Idaho Falls. Johnson goes 3 for 5 and drives in 2, Rodriguez goes 2 for 5 and drives in 3.

Baseball phrase of the day: low-head n. A fastball, one with 'good gas'; a heater.

Today's music selection: lots of feel-good, mid-summer MPB. Later, Miles Davis' Bitches Brew - The Complete Sessions.

I finished up Roger Angell's classic The Summer Game. The last chapter, 'The Interior Stadium' is the best. Its a very personal exanimation of one's love for the game. Here's a sampling:

Within the ballpark, time moves differently, marked by no clock except the events of the game. This is the unique, unchangeable feature of baseball, and perhaps explains why this sport, for all the enormous changes it has undergone.. remains somehow rustic, unviolent, and introspective. Baseball's time is seamless and invisible, a bubble within which players move at exactly the same pace and rhythms as all their predecessors. This is the way the game was played in our youth and in our father's youth, and even back then - back in the country days - there must have been the same feeling that time could be stopped. Since baseball time is measured only in outs, all you have to do is succeed utterly; keeping hitting, keep the rally alive, and you have defeated time. You remain forever young. Sitting in the stands, we sense this, if only dimly. The players below us - Mays, DiMaggio, Ruth, Snodgrass - swim and blur in memory, the ball floats over to Terry Turner, and the end of this game may never come.

OK, back to Studs Lonigan.

Beer count: 3. I found some money. Also, unless otherwise noted, the beer is always Special Export.