tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22012302008-02-03T10:15:20.890-08:00Edw.Blogger1226125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1103982681547682322004-12-25T05:50:00.000-08:002004-12-25T05:51:21.546-08:00

As I sit here in the predawn glow of a Christmas morning and everyone else still in bed (with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads) now seemed as good a time as any to give a brief update and say hello. If you haven't already seen it, I have a guest column over on Alex Belth's Bronx Banter blog. (Yes, yes, it's a Yankees' fan blog. But a darned good one and Alex has been

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1098969455748718212004-10-28T06:16:00.000-07:002004-10-29T05:10:28.160-07:00

The clouds are broken in the sky,    And thro' the mountain-walls A rolling organ-harmony    Swells up, and shakes and falls. Then move the trees, the copses nod,    Wings flutter, voices hover clear: "O just and faithful knight of God!    Ride on! the prize is near." So pass I hostel, hall, and grange;    By bridge and ford, by park and

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1098881340348996272004-10-27T05:48:00.000-07:002004-10-27T08:11:00.436-07:00

The time of mists and mellow fruitfulness is finally, finally upon us. One win away from a World Series victory? I'm with Jackie MacMullen in asking, "How did this happen?" How is it this band of self-described idiots, with raggy hair and baggy pants and shabby defense (eight errors through the first two games) find themselves on the cusp of doing something Ted Williams,

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1098795121957356872004-10-26T05:51:00.000-07:002004-10-27T05:57:02.440-07:00

So I bet I'm not the only one who has been going through the past couple of day like this: you'll be sitting there at work or driving or eating breakfast or whatever and about every couple of minutes you'll go, "OHMYGAW. THE RED SOX ARE IN THE WORLD SERIES!" It still hasn't really sunk in. Hell, I don't want it to sink in as I don't want to lose the giddiness of it all. And just

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1098711253901040112004-10-25T06:30:00.001-07:002004-10-26T05:56:01.720-07:00

Trying my best to temper my emotions. Although it was 18 years ago, the memories of the first two Sox wins, on the road no less, against the Mets in '86 are all of a sudden very much on my mind. But you know what? In 1986 the we, players and fans alike, didn't have anything quite like this: I just wish everybody on this planet could experience the day I just experienced I will

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1098448859839853252004-10-22T05:39:00.000-07:002004-10-26T05:55:01.340-07:00

Did this happen to you yesterday? Somewhere around mid-afternoon I was overcome with total exhaustion to the point where it was all I could do to hold my head up. The adrenaline from the post ALCS victory high finally wore out and the emotional ride and late nights of the past week and a half finally caught up to me. I slept so soundly last night. Content. But it won't last long

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1098364650976716562004-10-21T06:16:00.000-07:002004-10-22T05:43:16.990-07:00

Back in April, when the Red Sox beat up on the Yankees, we Red Sox fans were sternly admonished "not to gloat," and "wait 'til October." Well, can we gloat NOW? Oh, yes, I do believe I have my gloat on. The Yankees last night completed the worst collapse in postseason baseball history when they got clobbered by the hated Boston Red Sox in Game 7 of an American League

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1098275861424921292004-10-20T05:36:00.000-07:002004-10-22T05:52:08.106-07:00

Talk about Red Sox! When I saw Schilling take the mound without the high top cleat but instead the low cleat and that blood soaked sock I teared up. I'm tearing up now again as I write about it. Schilling's performance last night was the greatest sports event I've witnessed. So we are told "it's just a game." Yeah, it is. But in the same way that Beowulf is just a short story

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1098189355204030812004-10-19T05:35:00.000-07:002004-10-20T05:39:17.046-07:00

It's difficult to believe what we're seeing. Even were the pressure on these Red Sox, what would it matter? Trailing 4-3 in the ninth inning of Game 4, the Sox rallied against the great Mariano Rivera to tie the game, then won it on a David Ortiz [stats, news] homer against Paul Quantrill in the 12th. Last night, the Sox scored a pair against the Yankees bullpen in

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1098103026419331942004-10-18T05:36:00.000-07:002004-10-19T05:37:54.840-07:00

Ever heard of the singer who goes by the name "Peaches"? Probably not, right? And even if you have, you may not like her as Peaches is very much an acquired taste — But I'm telling you Peaches has the Red Sox theme song pegged right now. Check out these lyrics from the song "Operate." Just keep it going Just keep it going Just keep it going He's not dead, he's

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1098016144891421862004-10-17T05:28:00.000-07:002004-10-18T05:41:19.240-07:00

Are we left to conclude that the 10.5 game back to 2.5 games back Aug/Sept Red Sox, the best record in baseball since the All Star Break Red Sox, the "better team than the Yankees on paper" Red Sox were not the real Red Sox, but that the uninspired .500 ball Red Sox of May and June were the true article? Or are we going to go with the thinking

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1097844054585654722004-10-15T05:36:00.000-07:002004-10-18T05:41:45.723-07:00

I'm hoping this is a good omen. Last night I dreamt that I was hanging out with Manny Ramirez at a McDonald's. (Manny had the Big N' Tasty Extra Value Meal and an extra Big Mac. I had the Double Cheeseburger Extra Value Meal. Neither of us Super Sized our orders.) And while we ate Manny asked if I'd do the voiceovers in a new video short he was having produced about his career

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1097755544217386552004-10-14T05:05:00.000-07:002004-10-15T05:42:21.213-07:00

There's no other way to put it: The grave has been dug. The pine box has been inserted 6 feet deep, and the Red Sox are in it on their backs, breathing but unconscious. All that's left is to nail down the cover and start shoveling the dirt. Oh, of course, of course, one can escape such an ignominious end to the season. One can escape being buried alive. We saw the Bride do it in

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1097671230058368912004-10-13T05:39:00.000-07:002004-10-14T05:07:13.720-07:00

Round one goes to the Spartans. ... since you know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. Thucydides, The Melian Dialogue, Book V, 90 And our hero goes down. Be honest with yourselves, Red Sox followers: Schilling looks cooked. On

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1097584774140115452004-10-12T05:38:00.000-07:002004-10-13T05:43:50.640-07:00

The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it. Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War Think our guy Curt Schilling understands the tenor of the Thucydides' quote above? This is part of what I had envisioned when we agreed to come here last year,

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1097498899298617212004-10-11T05:47:00.000-07:002004-10-12T05:44:10.693-07:00

"We kind of knew it was going to have to go through New York, so here it goes!" — Johnny Damon I guess we all knew that, huh? As much as I was rooting for the Twins, I knew deep down that the reality is exactly as Theo Epstein describes it: "I don't speak for everybody else, but now that it's here we can admit if we're able to win a World Series and go through New York along

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1097326655096487292004-10-09T05:55:00.000-07:002004-10-11T05:50:02.060-07:00

Everything was going so smoothly. I even remarked to my wife, "The Angels have that look on their faces of total defeat. It's over." No sooner did I say that and Eckstein booted an easy double play ball. There are no things as sure things, but with a 6-1 run lead going into the 6th and Arroyo living up to Curt Schilling's assessment of the kid he wrote on SoSH, "[Arroyo's] got nuts the size of

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1097239418695911252004-10-08T05:43:00.000-07:002004-10-11T05:50:39.113-07:00

Lord: it is time. The summer was immense. Lay your shadow on the sundials and let loose the wind in the fields. (from "Autumn Day", Rilke) Kid: it is time. Your 5 straight was immense. Pitch through shadows on the infield and let loose the high leg kick. (from "Arroyo Day," Cossette) Is there a more beautiful sight than Fenway Park on an October playoff afternoon,

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1097154451818012162004-10-07T06:06:00.000-07:002004-10-08T05:49:01.396-07:00

I'm working on two hours sleep here, and my brain is sluggish (more so than usual even), but what a difference it is to have a late night win end with a win that puts the Sox up 2-0 than the alternative. This is what was going on last year after a late night game on the West Coast: Workplace production in New England will undoubtedly suffer a drastic drop today due to the

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1097065842603521152004-10-06T05:30:00.000-07:002004-10-07T06:10:41.963-07:00

Man, does winning Game 1 take the edge off or what? I know, I know the Angels have won a bunch of playoff series after having lost the first game, it's there modus operandi, but it's not my job to get rah rah about the Angels chances, it's my job to bask in the glow of the Red Sox victory. The Sox used one of the largest offensive outbursts in the club's postseason history

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1096979619360018362004-10-05T05:33:00.000-07:002004-10-06T05:32:50.843-07:00

At DirtDogs, über Sox fan Sean Kelly sums up my feelings precisely: I have followed them on a pitch-by-pitch basis since Johnny Pesky was managing the team. I have seen them participate in sixty-eight playoff and World Series games in five different decades. I have seen them play in person at their last three World Series - '67, '75', and '86. I have seen them win 9

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1096894192636567902004-10-04T05:49:00.000-07:002004-10-05T05:35:29.246-07:00

The Red Sox started the 2004 season in Baltimore with a loss and ended the season in Baltimore with a loss. But it's what went on in between that counts. Kind of feels like we went through 3 seasons doesn't it? We had the halcyon 15-6 Spring, followed by the stygian 48-45 of most the summer, and, finally, the 35-13 fruitfulness of a finish. The result is the third best record in

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1096635024350882972004-10-01T05:49:00.000-07:002004-10-04T05:52:28.543-07:00

And now we wait. The big news is, and I'm not quite sure how to take it, After two years of occasional posturing and sporadic threats about leaving Boston when his contract expires following this season, Pedro Martinez [stats, news] said last night that he is confident he will be staying with the Red Sox (Horrigan, 9/30) Martinez, who lost his fourth consecutive

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1096548823040721212004-09-30T05:53:00.000-07:002004-10-01T05:52:05.420-07:00

You know, I'm going to sheepishly confess that a part of me is relieved the Yankees swept the Twins (thanks for nothing Gardenhire) and Pedro looked more like his sidekick Mr. Nelson than a former flamethrower the result of which is 99.99% certitude the Yankees will win the AL East because I really, really didn't want to deal with a weekend of must wins in Baltimore. I

Edw.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2201230.post-1096461305162589512004-09-29T05:34:00.000-07:002004-09-30T05:55:22.036-07:00

Yes, I remember how good this felt when Derek Lowe delivered what catcher Jason Varitek describes as "the best pitch he's ever made." Derek Lowe showed last year that he is still more than capable of making major contributions out of the bullpen when he struck out Terrence Long with the bases loaded to clinch the fifth and final game of the American League Division

Edw.