Bambino's Curse

The Sounds of Silence

And the people booed and bayed
At the pitcher god they made.

And the pitcher spoke out his warning,

"I don't have anything to say. I just don't want to talk. I don't feel like it… Maybe not now, not the end of the year, not ever…" (Hohler, Globe).

Silence like a cancer grows?

Burr and Blur

21° at game time. Pedro Martinez on the mound.

"Cold weather and Pedro,'' Tampa Bay first baseman Aubrey Huff would say afterward. "It wasn't a very good mix" (Edes, Globe).

Sadly, there are most likely a contingent of dinks out there still who'll boo if Pedro falters again as he did last Saturday. Since booing Pedro is anathema to me, I've been trying to figure out what would make a so-called Red Sox fan do such a thing.

And this is my conclusion: Some people are not satisfied watching the game on the field — They want to be part of the action. By booing they attempt to be somebody, to insert themselves into the game any way possible, even if their actions are shameful (booing) or downright heinous (running onto the field to attack an umpire).

It's not just baseball, though, our whole culture is currently obsessed with being in the spotlight. How else does one explain the popularity of reality TV?

And before I get into the realm of the proverbial kettle calling the pot black, I'm not immune from such emotions myself. Wanting to be part of the game on a level higher than mere passive spectator helps explain in part why I post to this weblog every day.

The line, then, between acting like an ass and booing Pedro after one bad outing and writing a baseball blog is a blurry one.

Larger Than Life

On a Thursday morning,
After a come from behind win
My shoes are very shiny.

And the beggar man asks for a dollar,
And I slide him a smiling fiver,
After a come from behind win.

On Thursday morning,
The birdsong is all the brighter
After a come from behind win.

Ramiro Mendoozy

Before I get to the near disaster of last night's game, I need to clarify something: Did I really hear Joe on Jerry on the WEEI game cast discussing something called "A Night With Jose Canseco"? I can't find any corroborating information, but I swear they said that for $2500 you can spend an evening with Jose Canseco.

That is so bizarre, yet intriguing. That's not a whole lot of money. Hell, someone could start a web site called something like "sendmetojose.com" and ask for donations. I'd donate $25 in a heartbeat just to hear the day after stories about the evening.

Yeah, if true, it's just too weird. You know I'm enough of Canseco fan that I wouldn't mind doing that myself; however, I have this gut feeling that I'd end up in jail or dead. The police report would say something about shots fired, suspected drug use, corruption of minors… Oh, yes, you may know me as the mild-mannered, late 30s, blogger geek, but I have a dark side buried in my past, and something tells me a guy like Canseco would bring all the skeletons out of the closets. The guy's dated Madonna for crissakes!

Anyway, if someone wants to start a collection for themselves, count me in for a donation.

Now back to the situation that has Grady Little saying, "I find myself anxious waking up in the morning, thinking about the late innings" (Horrigan).

What can one say? Shaughnessy perhaps nails it best:

At least Sox fans can take comfort in the fact that the manager and GM agree with the Nation. This is the year when too many of the wins feel like losses.

There is comfort in that. I mean they've pretty much said, Mendoza won't get the ball again, and Howry was sent packing. They aren't pulling an Al-Sahhaf and claiming everything if fine. Theo Epstein is shitting bricks right now, you know it and I know it. And I've got faith that he and Little will take corrective action.

Meanwhile, I'm really tired of the "Mendoza Line" references with regard to Ramiro Mendoza. Even the normally erudite Gordon Edes does it in his column today. It just doesn't work for me. If you want to compare Mendoza to a line, compare him to the Maginot Line. You know, those French fortifications that were supposed to stop the German offensive during 1940 but ended up being about as successful as our Mendoza in stopping runs being scored?

The Red Sox Information Minister

At the risk of running afoul of good taste by making light of a serious subject (ie, war), I can't resist having a little fun…

You've all seen the former Iraqi Information Minister on TV, right? He's been called "history's funniest straight man."

Well, imagine if you will, that after things settle down in Iraq, he gets hired by the Red Sox to be their own Information Minister?

Here's how a couple of his sound bites might go:

• "We are not afraid of the Yankees.  Allah has condemned them.  They are stupid.  They are stupid" (dramatic pause) "and they are condemned."
• "We did not sell Babe Ruth to Colonel Jacob Ruppert. Babe Ruth was stolen by the NY infidels, and their stomachs shall roast in hell for it."
• "Let the Yankees bask in their illusion."
• "We are in control. The Evil Empire is in a state of hysteria. Losers, they think that by spending an unlimited amount on payroll and trying to distort the feelings of the people they will win. I think they will not win, those bastards."
• "Our estimates are that no team can beat the Red Sox, so they must forfeit all games to us quickly."
• "On this occasion, I am not going to mention the number of the victories we have had over the bastards. The operation continues."
• "Bucky bleepin' Dent did not" (dramatic pause) "I repeat did not hit a home run in the '78 playoff game. That was an illusion perpetrated by the media dogs. The Red Sox were victorious in that game and all games."
• "They are trying to fool you. They are showing any old pictures of World Series victories. Lies. All lies."
• "The Evil Empire is losing. Their starting pitching is a subject of laughter throughout the world."
• "When we were winning pennants, when we were writing the literature of how the game should be played, the grandfathers of Steinbrenner and little Torre were scratching around in caves."

Back to reality… Last chance to get in on the PawSox v Richmond game on June 1.

I think the Red Sox are primed to go on a win streak. Start it up Casey.

The Professional

It's scary to think where the Red Sox might have ended up in the standings over the last 8 seasons since '95 when Tim Wakefield joined the club.

And this season seems no different.

Forfeiting a turn in the starting rotation because of rainouts and the urgent need for help in the pen, the ever-versatile knuckleballer pitched a perfect eighth inning and averted a crisis in the ninth to preserve the team's first shutout of the season and pick up his first save since June 10.

"He's just a true professional," Garciaparra said. "He was huge for us today" (Hohler, Globe).

There was a period of time back in the late 90s when it seemed every game I'd see live, Wakefield was on the mound for the Red Sox. I think I saw him pitch four or five times in a row. At the time, I bitched and moaned about it, because I wanted to get some variety; now, in hindsight, I'm proud as hell that I've seen the guy pitch so many times.

Now, I wish I had something equally praiseworthy to say regarding MLB.COM's multimedia services. You're all well aware of the problems I've had with MLB.TV. Now the latest crap MLB is forcing me to eat revolves around the other services. Yesterday it took me 15 minutes to successfully login to the audio feed. I kept getting the "you must be a RealOne member to watch this premium service" despite being logged into my super-duper "broadband" subscription before accessing the file. I finally got it to work by making sure to have the RealOne play up and running before going to the MLB site and logging in.

Problem solved? Not exactly.

This morning I tried watching "the play of the game" and the "condensed" game and got the same error all over again even when I made sure to have the player up and running before logging in to MLB.COM. The beauty of it is you can click on the "login to your real one membership" link, login, hit play and STILL get the "you must be a member�" message.

What a joke.

What the Boos Said

Whenever someone brings out these "sports is a pleasant diversion from the trials of our daily lives" themed mantras, I think of days like yesterday.

While Pedro Martinez was having his worst outing ever as a Red Sox, getting booed even from a contingent of fans at Fenway, my alma mater, New Hampshire, was getting manhandled and beat by Minnesota in the NCAA hockey finals.

Even the guy I can count on to root for and give me a taste of what rooting for a winner is actually like, Tiger Woods, barely made the cut at Augusta; though at least Mr. Woods seems to have the charm for dramatic comebacks rather than dramatic chokes.

So much for diversion. I'd rather pay bills than suffer the sports whammy delivered to me in living color by the modern miracle of televisions yesterday.

If that isn't enough, reader Isaac Taylor writes to alert me to this nonsense:

Shame, shame on WEEI for the disgusting "Sox and Awe" signs it distributed at Fenway Park today. These signs are a disgrace to WEEI, to the Red Sox, and to the people of New England. All politics and patriotism aside, it's offensive to equate or associate baseball with the war in Iraq, and the "Shock and Awe" bombing campaign. WEEI belittles the sacrifices made by the men and women serving in the Persian Gulf, and verges upon celebrating the suffering of the Iraqi people.

The Red Sox make me crazy too, but this is outrageous.

Outrageous indeed.

Today can only get better, right?