A fitting end

[rsc]

Wednesday night we were at Fenway Park for the last time this season. The game was in some ways emblematic of the whole season, especially the second half.

Josh Beckett pitched extremely well for 6 innings, apart from one mistake in the first -- a home run given up to a batter that he wouldn't have faced in that inning if rookie shortstop Dustin Pedroia hadn't slightly mishandled a grounder three batters earlier. Starting with a line-drive double play in the second, he retired 13 batters in a row.

Then there was that 7th inning.

Of course, even the final score had been 2-0, it's still a loss. But losing 11-0 to the Devil Rays is beyond embarrassing.

And it's annoying that the game to which we happened to have tickets was the one where Gonzalez, Lowell, and Youkilis were all out of the lineup, whereas Tuesday's game, which a schedule conflict had forced us to trade for this one, was a gem pitched by Schilling and a Sox win.

Now we're in the unpleasant situation of needing the Yankees to win some games in order to have a chance to stayget out of third place.

Well, there's always next year. (Theo, you've got some work to do!)

Meanwhile (and with apologies to lcohen), Go Tigers!

Comments

Re: Well Said

[rsc.livejournal.com]

The trouble is that the deeper the Twins go into the postseason, the more games will be played in that, um, place. If the Twins get a new stadium (and if Carl Pohlad ceases to own them), I might root for them. And of course I'll root for anyone against the Yankees (this weekend aside).

But the Tigers take precedence in our household, if we don't want to get into serious trouble (see icon).

I have a family connection to the Phillies, who still have a reasonable shot. In the unlikely event of a Tigers-Phillies World Series, I'm not sure what I'll do (although I might have a hard time explaining rooting for the Tigers to my brother).

[vasilatos]

11-0 to the Devil Rays? That's just sickening.

Yet you were able to see it. Like a car wreck.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

jwg said (durung the top of the 7th), "If they score 10 runs in this inning, I'm leaving." So of course they stopped at 9.

[bitty.livejournal.com]

See, he should have kept his mouth shut. Jinx.

[vasilatos]

Yet Terrell Owens managed to hog the press. Again.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

The way we knew for sure that the season was over a couple of weeks ago is that the Red Sox game stopped being the lead story in the Globe's sports section; indeed, most of the time there's been no baseball on the first page. That hasn't happened in September in quite a while.

[lcohen]

wow. that's some talent john's got right there. that's just scary.

i think rooting for the tigers is reasonable. it's not like you can root for the white sox any more. well i'll root for them in these final games against the twins but then....*sigh*

[rsc.livejournal.com]

ell i'll root for them in these final games against the twins

Me, too (in the interests of securing the division for the Tigers).

[jwg.livejournal.com]

I did say it after they'd scored 6 runs.

[lcohen]

ah, okay.

/me puts away the voodoo doll.

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

Yet again my expatitude has rendered me ignorant: where the heck do the Devil Rays hang out when they're home? I know I could google it but they're probably in Punxsatawney, PA or East Jesus, Nebraska.

[vasilatos]

You poor child. (And would I enlighten you? No, I would not.)

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

Nyah, nyah. Robert saves the day again.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Tampa Bay, FL. That is, they play in St. Petersburg, but the name of the team is the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, which gives them the prize for Most Superfluous Syllables in a Major League Team Name. While it's true that "Arizona Diamondbacks" is actually more syllables, at least it's clever.

The all-levels prize goes to the triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, farm team for many years of the Philadelphia Phillies, but switching their affiliation to the Yankees after this season.

Further note: There had been reports that the Devil Rays were going to change their name to Rays, perhaps for fear that some people might think they were Satanists or something, but it doesn't seem to have happened.

[chrishansenhome.livejournal.com]

Perhaps after what happened to Steve Irwin they might want to change to some other fish altogether. The Tampa Blowfishes, for example.

[vasilatos]

Whoa, good point! We may or may not want to throw a crocodile into the mix, with the weeping widow in attendance. Yikes. This is one rough road to run.