tons of canned corn

I recently had occasion to attend a Boston ballgame. Everyone knows what happened so I don't need to rehash it. I'm pretty sore, though: I left after the game ended. How STUPID of me.

Before I headed down to Kenmore to breathe and die on the subway, I made a quick stop to powder my nose. The line was considerable. Someone blatantly cut in front of me. Someone huge. Someone I'd seen before. A broad back in a thin t-shirt almost pressed back into my nose. Six and half feet tall. I heard a little kid say, "Sam, what are you doing?" I made little fists and gently pummeled the man in front of me. By then I knew who it was. Who else could it be?

He finally turned around and said, "I think I'm in the wrong line."

The photo above is from about a month ago, in the barbecue tent, in Pawtucket. I only do posed photos with J-Kap.

major

Former Pawtucket great Lenny Dinardo returned to Fenway Park recently. No one seemed to notice and I don't remember any interviews or flashbacks or anything, probably because he wasn't that great. He does have a World Series ring, so try and think about that next time.

I must try and post more. You should see how sick I've been lately.

I'll be at Fenway tomorrow for my last baseball game of the year.

Minor League Promotion of the Year Award

That goes to the Fort Myers Miracle with Billy Donovan Night. If you changed your mind about the game you were attending, you could try and argue your way to a refund by consulting a lawyer and at times, shooting a ball into a basket.

The PCL's Portland Beavers had Bob L. Head night, where people whose name was actually Bob L. Head could get a commemorative bobblehead. Three guys were in the running, but it went to Leroy Robert Head. That is not technically Bob L. Head, but okay, congratulations!

We appreciate all you've done.

The year was 2005. The relief pitcher was Blaine Neal. Briefly a Red Sox member, Neal is probably best remembered for his ferocious contribution to a Tampa Bay Devil Rays brawl involving Trot Nixon.

Anyway, you know how when you get those Red Sox t-shirts with the player name, guys like Varitek and Matsuzaka and Ortiz and Schilling and Ramirez have the red or navy lettering, but if you want someone like Alex Cora or Kyle Snyder or Javier Lopez, the letters are white?

The point is, if you want a Blaine Neal Red Sox t-shirt, they're still selling them on redsox.com. Anyone on the current roster plus Blaine Neal. Oh, the memories.

It's too bad I can't get a Ricky Gutierrez t-shirt.

can't you see you're hurting me? don't you care?

Don't you care?

I know everyone's all mad about the Boston Red Sox getting swept by Toronto and the 1.5 games thing. Well, shut up. You know who's to blame? It's not Drew or Gagne. It's management. They fucked up. They knew the offense needed work but they didn't do anything about it. They FAILED! And who cares? I'm sure you'll see the Red Sox in the post-season. I hate all the bullshit whining. Please get over yourself.

A few days ago I was at the brewery and I saw Pedro Martinez on the TV. I had to dash over and smash my ear against the speaker so I could hear him. There's no one I love more, really. Unfortunately, his "Pedro" recognition has been diminished by a Napoleon Dynamite character. Believe me, if ever I mention Pedro Delivering Us From Evil, I'm talking about Martinez.

God, I miss the Pedro Days.

In other news, Doug Mirabelli recently left Fenway Park abruptly to attend to some kind of "family emergency". The true story is he was pissed about something or other and left in a rage. I think it had something to do with Kevin Cash.

That's all I have about the big club. Except that Brandon Moss dressed as Dorothy was creepily, impossibly sexy.

Chris Carter is fucking huge.

Chris Carter is a big 25 year first-base type from California who can hit. He can't field all that great but he's gotten better. Arm not strong enough for LF. He graduated from Stanford (pre-med), which qualifies him as the guy on the team most likely to be nicknamed "Einstein".

The Nationals got CC from Arizona in exchange for Emiliano Fruto, then they shipped him up to Boston for WMP. Emiliano Fruto was not available for comment. Conor Jackson sort of kept Carter stuck at AAA.

two things:
1.Some people say that Carter could be Boston's starting first baseman after Lowell leaves and Youkilis switches back to third. Yeah? Well, some people also wear fleece-lined Crocs.
2. Chris claims to have been a big Boston fan growing up. He says Lenny Dinardo told him how great the fans were. Lenny Dinardo said that?
3. Crater Chris is doing Arizona Fall League.

That's it. If you want specific stats you know where to find them.

Manzanita

The following organizational dudes are headed west to play in the Arizona Fall League. Or east if they've gone home to Nevada/California:

from AAA:
SS Jed Lowrie
RHP Craig Hansen

Portland:
RHP Kyle Jackson

A few others. I don't mess around much below AA. Even Portland is a deep, dark tempestuous place.

TempleUSox observes on the SoxProspects forum: "The AFL is so worthless. The hitting prospects just boost their stats in an offensive-friendly environment against non-prospects and the pitching prospects don't go. What a complete waste."

So there you have it, an opposing viewpoint. I have no desire to watch AFL ball... it seems rather dry and instructional and who really cares who wins? It's scouting and drills and zzzzzzz.

Yeah, I took a week off. So what? Minor league's over, man.

So... what do you want to talk about?

Captain Lou Merloni

Well, the AAA playoffs have been played off and it looks like the PCL did it. The Sacramento River Cats (OAK) beat the IL's Richmond Braves feat. Corky Miller. It was also the RC's third PCL championship.

It all took place in Oklahoma City. They called it the Bricktown Showdown and from what I understand it was televised. What you may not know is that the River Cats have a captain. And that captain is Lou Merloni. Merloni had four RBI in the deciding game, including a three run homer. During the regular season, he only hit three home runs, but he ramped it up for the post-season with FOUR home runs! Wow, he is almost like Carlos Beltran!

Merloni was named team MVP. And he is honored. Good for him, I guess. I'm not really a big LM fan.

Jeff Bailey is Unpopular

I recently wondered if JB led the PawSox in HBP. Well, as far as the numbers through mid-August prove, he did. By quite a few. Adding it all up was quite a pain in the ass. Just try to figure out the HBP totals for non-roster minor leaguers. Just you try.

Jeff Bailey was great in Pawtucket, past year notwithstanding. He had an appealing averageness, like someone you may have partied with in high school. I have this in common with him: living in Washington. We could have possibly been co-residents.

Sure, I made fun of him, but it was done out of love. After all, he was the team MVP in 2006. And he got that weekend with Boston. I hope he gets another shot with another team somewhere.

Favorite TV Show: The Daily Show
Favorite Musical Artist: Jim Croce
Favorite Movie: Talladega Nights
Favorite Celebrity: Jessica Alba
Favorite Hobby: golf
Favorite City: Seattle
Favorite Athlete: Walter Jones
Best Friend in Baseball: Brett Roneberg
Favorite Donut: Boston creme

The Stinko de Mayo Story

As mentioned by Mgr Ron "RJ" Johnson during the season ticket holder cookout.

It was May 5th at Dunn Tire Park in Buffalo. The PawSox and the Bisons (CLE) were playing a double header. The first game was a continuation of an April game that was suspended. 67 degrees, overcast. 5200 fans.

Things were looking good for Pawtucket. They were ahead 9-6 going into the ninth inning. Nick Pesco was pitching for Buffalo. The first batter he faces is Pawtucket catcher George Kottaras. GK walks. Luis Antonio Jimenez strikes out looking.

New kid Jacoby Ellsbury singles, then McEwing walks to load the bases with only one out. Nick the Fish is probably sweating. Bobby Scales is up and HE DELIVERS! He singles to right which brings in George and Jake. 11-6. Runners at the corners. Pesco is having trouble getting outs... gets a little coaching visit while McEwing very likely chats with RJ and Scales perhaps chats with Buffalo first baseman Ryan Mulhern.

The mild-mannered infielder Ed Rogers steps in. Nick Pesco is unconsoled and throws a wild pitch, which scores McEwing. 12-6. Rogers draws a walk. David Murphy comes up and lines out to former Twin Luis Rivas. Here comes big, dumb Jeff Bailey (Favorite Sports Moment: Seahawks playing in Super Bowl). Bailey walks! Bases loaded again, two outs.

Buffalo allegedly concedes at this point and removes Nick Pesco, who probably needed a warm bath and a good cry. And guess who comes in? Former PawSox Australian Trent Durrington! No, Durrington is not a pitcher, although he pitched once in Pawtucket in a 16 inning pinch.

Brandon Moss is the first batter to face Durrington and he probably decided not to swing at anything. Trent walks him, bringing in a run. 13-6. Kottaras comes up again and HE gets walked. Another run walked in, 14-6. Jimenez once more! And once more he FAILS by lining out. Wow, it's all coming back to me now... the flailing and the non-clutchness and the hopeless batting of L.A. Jimenez.

It's looking good at the bottom of the ninth with that 14-6 lead. Craig Hansen comes in like everything's everything and immediately walks the first batter (Ben Francisco). Okay. Hector Luna comes up and hits a weak grounder which Hansen does not field well and he reaches first. Error for Craig who failed to cover first after a great play by Jeff Bailey. Whatever.

Joe Inglett comes up and singles. Now the bases are loaded with no outs. And so? Still 14-6. Mike Rose steps up and Hansen hits him, walking in Francisco. 14-7. Bases still loaded with no outs. Hansen gets a mound visit. "I got this," he probably says. They all say that.

Infield cutie-pie Jason Cooper is up and he singles, driving in Hector Lunatic. 14-8 and still no outs. Bases still loaded. Brad Snyder gets on base due to a David Murphy fielding error. Inglett scores! 14-9! Ryan Mulhern comes in and doubles, bringing two runs home! 14-11! No one out and two runners in scoring position.

I'm sure at this point the Bisons fans were getting all excited. Can you blame them? Hansen is finally removed and replaced by Manny Delcarmen. He gets Franklin Gutierrez to pop out. Luis Rivas gets on base next when Ed Rogers makes an error. Two errors! Brad Snyder comes home from third. 14-12. Ben Francisco's up again and he singles, bringing home another run. 14-13, still only one out. Hector Luna's back and he doubles in Luis Rivas. 14-14! Ben Francisco's at third, Luna at second, still only one out. Manny intentionally walks the extremely dangerous Joe Inglett to load the bases. Brian Rose is up.

And... he walks Rose with the bases loaded. Bisons win 15-14. Trent Durrington gets the win.


choice media phrases:
1. "The Mother of All Meltdowns" - projo
2. "Bad, Bad Day in Buffalo" - pawsox.com
3. "...that horrendous meltdown in Buffalo" - Gordon Edes, B-Globe
4. "a nightmarish ninth inning" - USA Today
5. "In the completion of a game suspended two weeks earlier in the first inning, the Bisons pull off the greatest comeback in their history with a nine-run ninth off Boston prospects Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarmen. Infielder Trent Durrington, who pitched the top of the inning in a white-flag gesture because the teams had another game that night, is credited with the stunning victory." - Buffalo News
6. "...the most bizarre event of the season..." - Buffalo News
7. Steve Buckley's Herald column in which he speaks to Manny and Craig... "Pawtucket's defense contributed to the debacle.."
8. "It sucks but I'm over it." - Manny D
9. "Well, look at the bright side. We made SportsCenter." - RJ
10. "It was just a bad outing... it was just a long night." - Terry Francona
11. "YUCK" "I don't think [Hansen's] future is with the Red Sox anymore." - Baseball Fever
12. "Bisons manager Torey Lovullo was home in California attending his daughter's first Communion and getting text-message updates from GM Mike Buczkowski. Lovullo and the GM were then speaking via cell phone for the final three runs. And, remember, Buffalo did all of its damage against Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarmen, Boston's prized relief prospects who have both seen big-league time." -Mike Harrington, Inside Pitch
13. "The eight-run comeback ties a Modern Era record set August 19, 2000 when the Bisons trailed Ottawa 8-0 in the second game of a doubleheader before winning 9-8. The victory is a new record for the largest ninth-inning comeback in Dunn Tire Park history." -OursportsCentral.com
14. "I said, 'Trust your stuff. Believe in your stuff. You've got unbelievable stuff,' " McEwing said of his message to his Pawtucket Red Sox teammate, who had cited McEwing and the since-released Alex Ochoa as major reasons for his rebound from a meltdown against Buffalo. "It's rewarding to me and very humbling, but they do come up and ask." -Amalie Benjamin's blog
15. "The PawSox (10-21) are struggling mightily. The low point came when Pawtucket blew a 14-6 lead in the 9th inning against Buffalo on Saturday. Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarmen, the two relievers who combined to waste the eight-run advantage, were regular members of Boston’s bullpen last summer. This year, their ERAs are 7.20 and 6.32, respectively." -Richmond Braves...Oh Yeah (blog)

Et cet. This post took forever and cost me 4 dollars for archival material, but it was worth it for me.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays AAA Team Advances to Governor's Cup

Yes, the Durham Bulls are playing the Richmond Braves for the championship. The Durham Bulls are the Devils Rays' AAA team and generally pretty talented, I guess 'cause TB gets the high draft picks on account of their being awful.

The Richmond Braves are good because Atlanta can develop the fuck out of their talent. I guess. The teams are tied up at one win apiece.

When I think of the Bulls I think of how impressed I was with Elijah Dukes, who stomped all over Pawtucket. It's kind of depressing how he's flushing it all right down the toilet.

PS Minor league baseball attendence increased AGAIN this year by 900,000 fans. Unprecedented. Nice work, everyone.

Abe Alvarez is leery.

Be prepared for his exit from the organization.

Also pictured: Lincoln Holdzkom, who must sweat it out in long sleeves at all times because of his tattoos. What I did not know is that he also has nipple rings. He also claims to be a phenomenal juggler, "Like a circus clown". He was kicked off his junior college baseball team in AZ.

from allcubs.com: "Holdzkom throws a fastball and a curve. He has tried to learn a changeup, but has not mastered it yet. Before having Tommy John surgery in 2004, Holdzkom got his fastball up to 97 mph, but it currently sits around 93-95 mph. His curveball used to be a hard-breaker, but recently it has been more of a slurve. By all reports, he appears to be completely recovered from the TJ surgery, but now it is a matter of regaining the mastery of his pitches."

Holdzkom did pretty well during his short stay in Pawtucket. I predict a little AFL action. I did not necessarily want to talk about LH, but there you go. Look what you made me do.

Also, there's a scene in WHMS where Meg Ryan is talking about the alleged great sex she had with a guy named Sheldon. And Billy Crystal is all, nuh-uh, not with the name Sheldon and then he proceeds to elaborate. I feel this way about the name "Lincoln":

Do it to me... LINCOLN.
You're an animal... LINCOLN.
Ride me, big... LINCOLN.

Okay, okay, okay, I'm done.

I want to so bad and I try but I can't: Crummy PawSox pitchers

The Starters

Worst ERA (minimum 10 games started): Abe Alvarez (4.77)

Most Losses: Mike Burns, nine.

Most hits given up: Dave Pauley, 164. He also gave up the most walks, 49. This is kind of dumb because Pauley pitched more innings than anyone... so I'll just leap ahead to the more helpful WHIP...

Worst WHIP: Abe Alvarez, 1.47

David Pauley is also a vengeful god, leading the PawSox with seven hit batters.

The Relievers

Worst ERA: Edgar Martinez, 5.16. It's NOT Hansen?!?

Worst WHIP: Hansen, 1.75

Biggest Scumbag: Brian Corey. No! I'm KIDDING!

The Real Reason I Hate Hansen: He told me he'd call me! He told me he loved me! We shared one special night and then he treated me like DIRT!

Is Everything Alright At Home?: PawSox Low Scores

These guys had better have winning personalities and strong clubhouse presences:

Lowest batting average: Aside from the occasional folk such as Zach Borowiak... for those who played 20+ games, the lowest would be Alex Ochoa, .138. Kevin Cash hit .176 and Chad Spann hit .223.

Lowest OBP: Kevin Cash .276... then Ed Rogers .290.

Strikeouts: Brandon Moss K'd 148 times, WAY above Joe McEwing at number two with 104. Joe McEwing also stole six bases but was caught stealing nine times. That's funny... you'd think he would have stopped trying.

Slugging: Chad Spann, .307... Spann's OPS was also the worst at .602. Plus all those errors. I remember in SPRING TRAINING he was fielding poorly and I just felt bad and thought, okay, ST is not indicative of performance blah blah blah. But in this case, it WAS!

And Spann led the team with 16 errors. Ed Rogers 14. After that, three players are tied at 10. Bobby Scales I will give a pass to because he played a different position every day. George Kottaras sucks all around and he's lucky Spann was on the team to keep him out of last place.

But JEFF BAILEY had ten errors and he almost ALWAYS plays first base. There is no way you should have that many errors at first.

By the way, CURTIS GRANDERSON! Twenty triples? Astounding. If you do not love this man, you should. He has a blog that might be almost as good as mine.

lester last august

See if you can find him.

distant as the milky way

I am so terrible at this. I just now found out that Devern Hansack was called up to Boston. GOOD. I also feel like I should stop calling him Lobsterman, as he is so much more than that.

Boston also acquired some guy I've never heard of and I cannot even find evidence of this anywhere.

On a sadder note, I really like Daniel Cabrera and I feel as though if you could harness his awesome power, he'd be so good.

IL Pitching: The Beautiful Ones

IL Wins leader: Heath Philips (Charlotte) 13-7. Philips also led the league in innings pitched with 173.2 (Pauley led Pawtucket with 153.2 IP)
Pawtucket wins: Devern Hansack, 10-7 (If we got married, would that be cool?)

Twins' kid Kevin Slowey went all .189 this year in 20 starts. Fucking hell. He also pitched five complete games. He hurts me every time.
Pawtucket ERA leader: Hansack again with .361.

Striking out: JP Howell from Durham - 145 K's.
Pawtucket: Hansack AGAIN! with 131. Lobsterman was also SECOND IN THE IL for strikeouts.

IL WHIP leader: Kevin Slowey, 0.96. Impressed yet?
Pawtucket: Hansack! 1.19. (5th in IL) Is it him or is it me?

IL saves leader: Rochester's Bobby Korecky with 35.
Pawtucket: Yes, it was The Mighty Travis Hughes, the Papelbon of Pawtucket, Favorite Sportscaster Dick Vitale, with 24 (5th in IL).


The Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay) had the best team ERA (.359). Pawtucket (.405) fell about the middle.

Paint a perfect picture...

They Got High: 2007 IL Leaders

Congratulations to Ben Francisco who batted .318 for the Bisons (Cleveland) and WON the IL Batting Title. And it JUST SO HAPPENS that I have a sweet snap of BF himself with Sometimer S. Elarton. Jacoby Ellsbury came in 9th (.298) and first for Pawtucket. Just above Darnell McDonald.

Hitting streaker Brandon Watson (Columbus) (.313) came in third.

IL Doubles Leader: Brandon Moss! (41). The Mud Hens(DET) Timo Perez came in second with 39.

Triples: Shortstops Brian Bixler (Indianapolis Indians) and Alberto Gonzalez (S-W/B) tied at 10. Many people tied at nine and eight. Bobby Scales led Pawtucket with 8.

Home runs: Toledo Mud Hens Mike Hessman hit 31. Brandon Moss had the high count for Pawtucket with 16.

RBI: Hessman AGAIN with 101. And Brandon Moss takes it for the PawSox with 78, 7th in the IL.

Walks: Toledo's Chris Shelton with 83. B-Moss leads Pawtucket with 61 (10th in IL). Former Boston great Mark Bellhorn came in 8th.


Stolen Bases: Columbus Clippers' second baseman Bernie Castro had 34. Jacoby Ellsbury and Darnell McDonald were tied at second place with 33. So close, Jake.

OBP: Commando Unit Leader Jack Hannahan of the Toledo Kill Hens mowed down the opposition with .422. Number one at McCoy was Bobby Scales with .373. Mark Bellhorn was tied for 5th place in the IL.

The Buffalo Bisons led the IL in OBP (.341). The IL wild card winning Richmond Braves had the highest batting average (.271). Pawtucket was DFL with .254. The Toledo Mud Hens won the RBI race with 633. Unfortunately, they were swept by the Durham Bulls in the IL playoffs. The Yankees and the Braves are still going at it.

Jerkoby E. and the P-Sox Posse

Here we have Boston Fans' crushbaby Ellsbury with Pawtucket Fly Honey Ed Rogers. Ed Rogers (Favorite movie: Count of Monte Cristo) hoisted his bat up on the last day and passed it up to a kid in the stands. By all accounts ER was a sweet guy and it's too bad his injuries kept him from playing toward the end.

Rogers finished up with a .290 OBP. Whoa. No triples, 6 HR, 35 RBI. Okay, so he wasn't awesome. Rogers had 14 errors, second only to... come on, guess! Who was the crappiest fielder in Pawtucket? Remember, I hated him? Yes, Chad Spann had 16. And he wasn't even there the whole year!

Edit: Hey, isn't that ROYCE CLAYTON with Ellsbury? Not Ed Rogers but ROYCE CLAYTON? Well, yeah.

it's so hard babysittin' these guys

Pawtucket hitting coach Mark Budaska got the AXE right after the season ended. Makes sense, I think. When Bronson Sardinha is in the house, that's TWO Hawaiians at McCoy. Bye for now.

Pitching coach Mike Griffin has been "reassigned". THUD. He's in shock, I'm in shock. Griff was great, just ask Lester. I will miss him even if you don't.

Joe McEwing defended Craig Hansen. Said he's a guy you want in the trenches with you. Wow, he must have been sniffing glove conditioner.

My friend with the Polaroid got this photo for me. The look on McEwing's face says it all, I think.

Breslow Life

Craig Breslow was present and accounted for in the Pawtucket bullpen yesterday. What? He wasn't called up? He was... and then he was released or something, whatever the thing is where you have three days to report to AAA. And he didn't even have to go, since after three days there's nothing left.

But he went and suited up and was in apparant good spirits. That's something you don't see every day! Nice job.

Finale

Pawtucket loses 8-5

David Pauley pitched and really laid it all out. He gave up ten hits in five innings which resulted in three runs. He was really trying hard to be good, you could see it. Craig Hansen came in and ball, ball, ball, ball,walk, ball, ball, WHACK! Hits the batter, Eric Duncan. Gets ejected. Seems some of the Yankees pitchers were getting bitchy with the hitters, getting up and in on McEwing's noggin and plunking Jeff Bailey in the bum. Hey, the asshole doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?

Suffice it to say Hansen flipped out after the ejection. Breslow came in and it was pretty much over at that point. Too bad, it really looked like they had a shot until fuckface came in.

Some Claggett kid pitched for S-W/B. The field was populated with leftovers and it was a little sad. You should have seen this one S-W/B reliever, Kozlowski.

After the game, it was announced that "Your 2007 Pawtucket Red Sox" would take the field one last time. So each coach and trainer and player was called out one by one and handed a phat gift bag. Yay! Turns out the gift bags were filled with squishy baseballs.

The best part was that the players all ran out and tossed copious amounts of squishy balls into the stands. This went on for quite some time. It should have been done in slow motion, with a swelling, gorgeous soundtrack. It was weird. Imagine watching a really good TV show and at the end of the season finale, the characters turned to you and smiled at you and then tossed gifts into your lap. Everyone in the stands was crying a little bit. Or the maybe it was late afternoon sun in their eyes.

In spite of not pitching that great, Pauley seemed to be having probably the most fun, throwing the balls as high up as he could... way up back to the people in the last rows... even getting excited when he threw one up over the roof.

DP's been a great guy in Pawtucket and I never really gave him anything... so Spirit Award goes to David Pauley. As I said before, the Last Nice Guy at McCoy.

The end! Pawtucket opens their season at home on April 3rd. I'll just be sitting here twiddling my thumbs.

i prayed that the days would last / they went so fast

Last game, last page of scorebook. Pawtucket lost. Just par for the course.

Craig Hansen practically stripped down naked, throwing all his belongings into the stands. Not a debt-erasing move, since he essentially blew the game, got ejected, and was Team Low-Life in 2007.

I love you! Goodbye!

three days

Forgot to mention the call-up of Brian Corey. Someone who was there said BC rolled up to the park early all dressed in black and got his crap and left. The same Someone ran into Breslow later and Breslow had no idea who got called up. I guess he doesn't own a PC? YEAH BRIAN COREY!

so fresh:
RHP Scott Lonergan from Lowell
RHP Blake Maxwell from Lancaster. Isn't Blake Maxwell a character on 'One Life to Live'?
RHP John Barnes from Portland
OF Cory Keylor from Portland

so clean:
INF Ed Rogers is off the DL! You certainly may not call him Eddy-Baby.

Um, the season's over, so these updates sure are timely inasmuch as they're very late.

8.31.07 PawSox v. Scranton Wilkes-Barre

PawSox lose the first game in the series 9-3. I am falling behind.

Mike Burns was trying really hard. He gave up five runs on nine hits during his 5 1/3 innings of work. I think he really wanted to be better than Igawa. Edgar Martinez was responsible for the other four. The possibly improving C. Hansen pitched the last 1 1/3 and gave up a hit and a walk.

Igawa pitched seven innnings and looked pretty tuff. Three runs on five hits. Nine K's! Three walks. No sunglasses, though, for this night game. Lefty Charlie Manning finished off the PawSox.

Possible catching bust G. Kottaras thought it would be a nice night to get on base, so he doubled twice. The Unstoppable Bobby Scales hit a home run. Hotshot shortstop Jed Lowrie made an error.

Mike Kinkade is driving me crazy because I'm certain I know him from maybe some other team and I know I can look it up but it's one of those things where I HAVE to figure it out by myself. It's like a test! He was on the Chiefs or the Bisons or one of those other teams that Pawtucket seems to play twice a month. The Lynx? Kinkade may not be sexy but he tripled and went 3-5. Kevin Thompson stole two bases.


gross!
1. Yes, Doug Mientkiewicz was in the house. It was so cool! He got booed but not by me because he's so awesome. He looks fine, seems to have recovered. Not called up, I noticed.
2. It was like night of a thousand stars at McCoy. Jose Cruz Jr! Kei Igawa! Wil Nieves!
3. It was Special Olympics night. The players took the field with their own personal participant. Royce Clayton was especially nice to his kid, and for that I love him. As if getting rid of his stupid haircut wasn't enough.
4. I had to bail on this game due to a prior commitment. I also had the rare pleasure of running into a good friend of mine that I hadn't seen in, oh, probably ten years. So hey, Shelley. Good to see you again.
5. Free comic book night! I think I spilled lemonade on mine or something. I have no patience for "graphic novels". I'm not being dismissive, just narrow-minded.
6. Hooowooops, my B, Mienkiewicz did get called up. "Mientkiewicz was with Scranton for their game in Pawtucket, R.I., on Friday night. The Red Sox fans there, he said, booed him throughout. 'They still love me,' he said."

Saturday was a doubleheader and Pawtucket split it. And then they lost today.

I WILL be at McCoy tomorrow for the last game of the season. Then nothing.

the ones they left behind

Congratulations to Brandon Moss! I will miss you and your doubles in Pawtucket.

Congratulations to Royce Clayton!

Congratulations to Craig Breslow! Thanks for solid lefty relief.

Also, good luck Buchholz and Ellsbury. I'm forgetting someone?

I guess it wasn't in the cards for Bobby Scales or McEwing. That would have been cool, but I get it.

Bye, guys! Bye!

ETA: I just now found out. Holy shit. I fucking MISSED it!

8.30.07 Pawtucket Red Sox v Buffalo Bisons - good to have

Yeah, WHAT?! D-Vern D-livers and Pawtucket wins 3-2.

Hansack: Seven innings, four hits, two runs. One walk, 4 SO. Both runs were solo homers. Hansack also managed to hit two batters. Do you believe me? Brian Freaking Corey pitched the eighth and the ever-massive Trav. Hughes pitched the ninth. They held the Bisons scoreless. Oh, you two!

Cliff Lee! Imagine, here at McCoy! Lee pitched five innings and gave up all three runs. He walked three and struck out six. He also made two errors in the same play. Lee wound up throwing 102 pitches, so yes, he is rehabbing. Look at him jive. He was followed by Matt "M" Miller, Juan Lara, and E. Mujica.

Jed Lowrie and Jeff Bailey each doubled. That is all.

Luis Rivas (!) hit a solo home run, as did Brian Rose.

it's nice to be nice:
1. My first visit to the barbecue tent! Hot dogs, hamburgers, and grilled chicked were served. I opted for the extra-mayonnaisey pasta salad topped with crushed potato chips with a plain hamburger roll on the side. It was pretty fat and disgusting.
2. Cliff Lee walked right past me on the way outta the bullpen. He tossed his ball up and the girl next to me caught it. "Hey, one hand, alright!" he said. What a wanker! Kidding.. CL also sez "I don't want to be the 'big league guy' that comes down and is bitter all the time and nobody likes. I don't want to be that guy." Oh, I think I know that guy. I think that guy might be Junior Spivey.
3. Sam Horn was also at the BBQ. I took a few photos from a distance. He was probably the largest person in the park. He was definitely making new friends.
4. Luis Rivas!
5. You should see the free ugly sunglasses they were handing out.
6. Indians' fans refer to their team as "The Tribe". Buffalonians call the Bisons "The Herd".
7. Once again, Cliff Lee's middle name is "Phifer".

HANSACK!!!