Are we home yet?

I'm not imbued with confidence in this team right now, because I'm just not sure which team the Red Sox are, and yet I'm feeling all this off of a somewhat hard-luck loss that could have been a feel good comeback. Daisuke was only okay, and then he was injured, but four relievers pitched shutout ball until the 9th, when someone other than Papelbon had to pitch (road versus home logic in the 9th of a tie game), and the prime candidate was still ol' man Timlin. Who, sadly, is pretty much done. He was quoted after the game frustrated that he was hitting his spots and still getting hit. That's old age, old man. And that's what happens when you have to get five innings out of your bullpen without a real long man. Can't wait until Masterson's in his likely September place in the pen.

Manny's 499th was something to see, and was absolutely critical in a game where the Sox made Miguel Batista look far better than the adequate pitcher he (sometimes) is, and specialized in putting men on 1st and 2nd with no outs and nothing to show for it. Of course, said home run was responsible for me turning the game back on, losing some sleep I really could have used (especially including the 45 minutes of winding down from the mindstate of "Fuuuuuuuuck!" that comes after losing any game in the 9th), and coming to work in such a delicious mood.

So that's .250 ball so far on this trip, or 1-8 over their last nine road games, with another five games to play on the last unmerciful ten-game road trip of the season. And a blown opportunity to take back first place. And two more 10:05 starts I'm not even fucking with. And one nap couch that my work place must purchase immediately, 'lest I give notice.

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Eh, forget it. Hello, bed of keys. rsp;'./D{Dsareu3wq4lasdc

GAME SIXTY EIGHT: 40 is the new 50.

This is the great Satchel Paige, the black Cy Young. When he finally came over from the Negro Leagues to the American League, he was supposedly 42, but many thought he was more like 50. Older than Jessie Orosco, older than El Duque. He pitched pretty good, and had he pitched a full season in '48, might have merited some, er, "Rookie" of the Year attention.



This is Curt Schilling. A power/location pitcher who probably can't get away with throwing in the high-to-mid 80s for an entire night, as his changeup is not Pedro Martinez's, and his splitter hangs more than it used to. He caught a cuff or two last night from the team of Chief Nokahoma, now located in the city of parking lots. His ability to locate gives him a chance to pitch well even when his velocity is shit, as it was last night. (Note: during the no-hitter, Schilling hit 95 a couple times. Last night he hit 90. Once.) For right now, he's still a former power pitcher trying to figure out what he is, and is especially confused due to periods of time (sometimes just one start) where he is a power pitcher again. Then again, maybe age is just mind over matter: if you don't mind, it don't matter.

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Nah. It matters. For some pitchers, 40 may as well be 50. And for the rest of us, 30 ain't the new 20, either. Jay-Z's damn near 40, anyway, which is 60 in rapper years.

The other side of the Clemens signing, acknowledged.

A comment yesterday encouraged me to look beyond "rational" baseball thought, a confusing comment insomuch as I've never attempted true rationality with this blog: it might be fun for some Yankee fan readers who can look past my "partisan" insanity and frequently inane predictions, but I doubt there are many who can.

Anyway, the Clemens signing to the Yankees has, yes, another side. It's the Clemens Bob Ryan talks about here that's the one causing some fans to shed tears onto their 1986 AL Champions pennant. Like I said, I missed that guy's career, but I understand. Unfortunately, I remember the guy who played the Sox and the Yankees to sign for more money with the Blue Jays, a pure money move (chance to win a championship my ass), much more strongly. Sorry.

(By the way...god-DAMN has Clemens been in the league for a long time. Breakin' was in theaters when he debuted? AND Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo came out in 1984 as well? Now THAT's a quickie sequel.)