Thursday, July 14, 2005

Four-Letter Words

I had some good news and some bad news tonight. I fell asleep shortly after Curt Schilling climbed his Mount Olympus, ready to assume his place among the baseball gods. Shortly thereafter, I awoke to find the Sox trailing 8-6, after a mind-numbing A-Rod two-run shot.

Unfortunately, Mariano Rivera had his Superman suit on tonight, and the Sox surrendered on strikes to drop the series opener.

Failing to protect 4-0, 5-4, and 6-5 leads certainly created more than a little disappointment, and the great Closer by Former Phillie plan gets off to a glacial start. Mike Mussina managed to hang around longer than he deserved, and one starts to get the feeling that some subtle changes in the club's construction are under way.

Meanwhile, down on the farm, Hanley Ramirez has been clubbing the ball lately, and seems energized, either by the promotions going on around him, or the realization that his turn may be coming closer than any of us appreciate. David Murphy, he of the 'no stick' has miraculously raised his average to .285, and although he looks like he needs some weight room time to me, has opened a lot of eyes.

Manny DelCarmen proved himself human tonight with a blown save loss for the PawSox, but Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia accounted for five hits, three runs scored, and two RBI.

Local kid (?) Steve Langone took the loss for the Wilmington BlueRocks. I haven't seen him (presuming it's the same Langone) for a dog's age, but wonder whether he's got enough stuff to go with the finesse and control. It's hard not to root for any local guy.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who cares how long the game is? Do you go to the game and say, "What a great game. I hope it's over in under 3 hours." If the games are too long for you, don't go; this is such a lame subject.

Ron Sen, MD, FCCP said...

Maybe I'm getting old (on the wrong side of 50), but I enjoy a 2-1 pitcher's duel with good defense and strategy more than 14-11, with 15 walks, 12 pitchers, and 15 percent of the adults intoxicated.

But that just how I see it, or used to get to see it.