Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Red Sox on parade

From Dam Cat:

Yes.....we did it!! Me and the Peas made the trek into town for the BIG celebration.

What can I say.......AWESOME!! Front and center on Tremont Street, almost on the curb, 2nd people in. WHOO HOOOOO! Got to see "the dance" up close and personal...WOW!! I don't think you'll see Papi on Dancing with the Stars anytime soon, but no matter. We need him to keep his day job!!

We had a GREAT day. As you can tell we were REALLY, REALLY close. I could see the duck boats coming down the street, so I turned on the camera, and saw what? ... "memory card is full" ... HUHHHH!??! So, the Elder Pea really quickly started deleting stuff (glad we had Nan's b'day pics on the computer already!). And you know what? At that point in time, I couldn't have cared less about the last mantle my husband built...sorry! Off they came. So now I'm thinking I'm golden, right? NOOOOOO. The camera dies. No power. So the boats are coming and I'm turning the camera off and on to get as much juice as possible (hubby was severely scolded later for not charging the damn thing). Anyway, here's what I got. I could have gotten a lot more, but guess I'll have to wait till next year! As the Elder Pea will tell you, the ONLY one that matters is Jacoby Ellsbury. Good thing that one came out or she would never have forgiven me. And bro, I wasn't trying to take a picture of the "furniture guys", that's Manny on the back of the boat (with his back to me). Sorry it isn't better. But I did give him a big yell and a thumbs up. I tried.

Trust me. .... IT WAS GOOD! Well worth the trip!

And here are her photos! PopPop and I watched on TV and looked for DamCat and the Peas, but never did see them. I called the Younger Pea's cellphone to find out where they were, but she didn't have it with her. She told me later she had no idea where they were anyway (but her mom could have told me!). Oh well. They had a great view and a great time, and we got to live the experience vicariously through them!

RED SOX WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS

My lord,, it's final..... and not a day too soon, or I'd have been in Betty Ford by mid-week!

I've danced the Papp-Youk and could possibly go on the road with them I'm so good at it. My Red Sox good-luck lighter still has some juice to it! Yes folks.... I was doing the "this little light of mine" routine as well as drinking from a Indians Coolie while jumping up and down.

Red Sox Nation is contagious. I have to tell you besides all the "Fam" calling back and forth, I get more than a few folks calling me each night to ask questions, wish the Bosox good luck, call me after a great play, and these are not baseball fans!!!! They are just all caught up in Red Sox Nation! Last night one call was about "Why are the Rockies fans waving white towels like crazy?" I replied, "they are giving up, just like the Tribe did". My friends reply, "Thanks, I thought so. I'll call you tomorrow." So, that tells you that even a novice took my white flag answer with no questioning!

I don't want to get started in on the A-Rod announcement last night (YET! there's still time to gripe about that) - the worst PR move in baseball history and I'm more than annoyed at it all. Having 10 days to spew his Assness to the world and he picks last nights game. Shame on him and his people!

We are on a roll with this team. If any of our players are traded now, I feel that it will bring another curse upon us.

Lowell is awesome. I know you were waiting for me to say that! MVP!!!! Yup Yup!! A huge thanks to Capt V!!!!!!! Jason, you are the brains/brawn for the pitching and we noticed!!!! Tonight I'll finally sleep. We did it!!!!! Congratulations Boston!!

Wake up!

DamCat sent this to me and it is SO true! Sophia goes through this routine pretty much every morning with me, except for the bat part. But isn't it nice that a bat is included, in keeping with our current baseball commentary?! Still, just in case, I think I'll hide the broom...

Do or die

It's do or die for the Rockies now. On a night when rookies ruled, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia sparked the Red Sox from the top of the order, Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched shutout ball into the sixth inning and Boston beat Colorado 10-5 on Saturday for a 3-0 Series lead.

Ellsbury became the first rookie in 61 years with four hits in a Series game, getting three of Boston's seven doubles. Pedroia had three hits, including a bunt single that helped spark a six-run third against Josh Fogg, who allowed 12 of 19 batters to reach. Even Dice-K got a hit that scored two runs. Honestly, who saw that coming?

Colorado didn't go down without a fight. Down 6-0 in the third and seemingly out, they came back with two runs in the sixth. The Rockies then closed to 6-5 when Matt Holliday hit a three-run homer in the seventh on Hideki Okajima's first pitch. But the Rockies' chance to get back into the World Series vanished into Coors Field's thin air. Ellsbury lofted an RBI double down the right-field line off Brian Fuentes in the eighth that just eluded Brad Hawpe's attempt at a sliding, backhand catch, and Pedroia followed with a two-run double to right that made it 9-5. Jason Varitek added a sacrifice fly in the ninth of a game that took 4 hours, 19 minutes -- the longest nine-inning game in Series history.

Tonight Jon Lester starts for the Red Sox against Aaron Cook in a matchup of pitchers who made it back to the majors after major medical problems. Lester overcame lymphoma, while Cook came back from a blood clot.

So much for the recap, borrowed, reorganized and edited from SI. Manny was out, although I still have a problem with that call. The home plate umpire was not in a position to make the call, and it was pure luck that he got it right. Also, how about we settle on what the strike zone is, m'kay? Why is it three or four inches wider if you are a Colorado pitcher?

At the start of the game, having picked a few winners in the Breeder's Cup earlier in the day, I said we should guess at the final score for this game. PopPop went with 5-2, Red Sox. I said 8-5, Red Sox. Sooooo close!

Finally, I have two words for Joe Buck and Tim McCarver -- SHUT UP. Seriously, these guys suck major league ass. I have said right along that Fox would be far better off, and might gain some sports cred, if they'd get the local broadcast teams to sit in and call the local games. One thing is for sure, these two jamokes have to go.

Googlepages

It occurred to me that Google, with its vast resources, must be hosting webpages other than Blogger pages, and sure enough they are.

If you have a Google email address, you can go to Google Pages and make a page for yourself. They have several templates available and an easy-to-use wysiwyg set up (what you see is what you get). I made a rather annoying page with a Halloween widget that you can see here.

So go ahead, make yourself a webpage!

Go Red Sox !!!

Red Sox won again!... are you feeling it???? i know you are!!!

With all the talk about who is pitching for the BoSox this weekend using National League rules, and the questions as to how and where to put David Ortiz in, this is my call as I see it...

Dice-KKKKK starts (wabbit is checking on his hitting record somehow) when he is ready to be pulled (depending on inning & score) either Big Papi or CoCo will be put in as the pitcher to bat at the plate and taken out when it's time to go to the field, and so on. Can we call them relief-pitcher-hitters? You can tell by my comment posted last night that taking Lowell or Youk out of the game would be insane. I, myself was insane last night thinking they might be serious about doing it!

Was I excited last night after the game? if you caught my wild and crazy post this morning I hope you had a good laugh, because I did. We'll all sleep well tonight, and be rested for Saturday's game.

I'm thinking S W E E P !!!!!!!!!! and won't that be S W E E T !!!!!!!

Happy Birthday PopPop!

Not that he ever looks at the blog, or even knows how to turn a computer on, but the sentiment is here for all the world to see.

Happy Birthday, PopPop! 79 years young and counting!

We'll have a little gathering for mac and cheese, cake and ice cream, and our own rendition of Happy Birthday for the old fart, who loves it all in spite of himself and his protestations! Then everyone heads home early, since PopPop hits the hay by 8pm, in time for the opening pitch of game two of the World Series.

Red Sox climb over the Colorado Foothills

So much for the shadow of the Bambino.

I sure hope the Red Sox get this kind of hitting behind the pitchers who really need it, like Schilling and Dice-K. Josh Beckett can hold his own quite nicely, thank you.

If the long layoff didn't hurt their hitting, it seems the pitching for the Rockies got rusty. I would have thought the pitchers would gain by having some extra time off, but it doesn't appear to have worked that way for Colorado. Or maybe the Sox just had an extraordinary day. The Red Sox crushed the Rockies in the opening game of the World Series, 13-1. This win matches the Red Sox Series winning streak of five games for the first time since 1915-16.

All kinds of records were set: most runs scored by a team and the largest margin of victory in the opening game of the World Series (the 1932 NY Yankees and 1996 Braves scored 12 runs each in their openers); the most extra-base hits by a team in a WS (8 doubles and a home run - the 1906 Chicago White Sox and 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates also had eight doubles); the 12 combined doubles were a Series record; first pitcher to strike out the first three batters (and actually, he got the fourth as well); first lead-off hitter to hit a home run, a rookie no less, and on the second pitch! Franklin Morales was called for the first Series balk since David Weathers of the Yankees in 1996.

Morales got just two outs and was charged with seven runs for a 94.50 Series ERA. With 64 post-season RBIs, Manny Ramirez moved ahead of David Justice for second all-time behind Bernie Williams (80). The only Red Sox player to not get an RBI was Mike Lowell, but he hit and got a couple walks, so he was on base and able to score. 11 of 13 runs were scored with two outs. I don't know if that's a record, but damn!

The Rockies had a horrible day. Credit Beckett for keeping their hitters out of the game, but the Rockies' pitching was something else. Starting pitcher Jeff Francis gave up the most baserunners (13) by a Game 1 starter since 1982 (Bob Forsch). Morales gave up more runs (seven) without getting three outs than any relief pitcher in postseason history. Ryan Speier became the first pitcher to walk in a run three times in the same World Series game. The biggest stat for them was the fifth inning, when with two outs, Rockies pitchers faced 23 batters with a chance to end an inning and succeeded in retiring the batter only four of those times. That's a two-out OBP of .826.

And how classy were the Red Sox after the game?

"I executed just enough pitches today to survive," Beckett said. "That's a good lineup over there. You can tell how hungry they are."

"This is a tough series and a tough team," Youkilis said. "There's a reason why they're here."

The Rockies are a class organization as well.

"It's a big loss, Game 1 of the World Series," Todd Helton said. "But knowing the heart of this team, we'll come back tomorrow."

'Nuff said. GO SOX!!

Happy Birthday my sistah!

Today is Key Dear's happy birthday - the Red Sox will win for her!

Have a happy happy day, Key Dear, wish you were here to do the Papelbon with us! xoxoxoxox!

I would have posted this much sooner, but we've been offline since yesterday afternoon. High winds knocked out the power and evidently toasted our FIOS connection as well. I have a new box downstairs, a new cable, and a new router, and all is well.

Mission: FIND THE BLACK PEARL

The Red Sox bullpen parrot has been missing since Tuesday! Mike Timlin has put out the word to find the stolen mascot! Boston, keep your eye's and ears open. Who could do such a thing!!!!


UPDATE: PARLAY FOUND!

BOSTON RED SOX

What a team..... What a game......

Great Win! Now, on to the WORLD SERIES!!!



Here is a nice game summary.

On to Game 7

I'm not a big fan of blow-out scores, even when my team wins. What I did like about last night's game was that hitters who had been struggling got hits and RBI's, and the pitchers held up. J.D. Drew must be over the moon with that grand slam, and I bet it's a relief to him. Curt Schilling pitched yet another postseason gem. No walks, not one. Schilling improved his career postseason record to 10-2, allowing two runs and six hits in seven innings. Even Eric Gagne pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning. Let's hope Dice-K does well tonight. And won't it be fun to see Beckett come in as a reliever! Everybody do the Papelbon!!



Defensively we also played well, but that isn't such a surprise. Our favorite Lowell made his usual outstanding contributions, including that fab bare-hander to end the game. Nice to see the Elder Pea's future husband be part of the starting line-up. I'll be surprised if Ellsbury isn't in center field again tonight.

However, the umpires continue to suck. I suppose I should give them the benefit of the doubt, they are only human after all, but the strike zone has been all over the place throughout the series, both here and in Cleveland, and that didn't change last night. I saw the exact same pitch go to the exact same spot in one inning, I think the second, and get called a strike once and then a ball. Maybe it was later in the game, because I'm pretty sure Lowell was the batter. Two strikes, then a ball, and the TV coverage showed three balls. Unreal. Does baseball really need instant replay? Maybe they'll end up doing what tennis and football have done - give the teams each two challenges, which disappear if the original call stands. I doubt whether challenges would be able to be used on ball/strike calls, though, games would go on for days. Maybe we should stop replaying the pitches with the strikezone box on TV and accept that the homeplate umpires are only going to get the call right 70% of the time.

INDIAN GIVERS! ! ! ! !

At 9:20 this evening Manny and the Boston Red Sox were shown the Tribes hospitality! Even after several replays, a huddle by the squaws (umpires), a white mark on the TOP OF THE WALL beyond the yellow line, and guess what???? INDIAN GIVERS!!!!!

It's TRIBE TIME!!

The Ghosts of the Boston Red Sox are gonna drink from the sweet victory of Tribe Tonic!!!!!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!!!!!

Bird spotting

Yesterday morning, PopPop and I were having our respective cups of tea and coffee when I spotted the red-bellied woodpecker on the cherry tree. We haven't seen him for many months, since March, I think. But there he was, big as life, and bless him, he kept coming back to that same spot on the tree. I figured I'd try to get a quick photo of him before I started my usual Wednesday housecleaning, and an hour or so later, I did. So imagine my surprise and delight at seeing not one, but two red-bellies on the tree! We have a pair! The males and females are pretty much identical, especially from this distance, so I don't know which is which, but maybe we'll get some baby red-bellies next year. They are striking woodpeckers, we hope they'll stick around so we can see more of them.

No jury duty for me

I was rejected for jury duty yesterday, for a case I would dearly loved to have been a juror (forcible child rape). Now, was it because I am taller than either attorney? Was it because I have an uncle who is fighting extradition on a similar case? Was it because I corrected my name with the court officer, since I am no longer hyphenated? I suspect the latter, no doubt it made me look like an uppity bitch, but ultimately it doesn't matter. They'll have another crack at me in three years.

It would be nice if the process could be organized a bit better. We were required to be in the courthouse at 8am, but didn't even have the orientation presentation until 10:30am. We finally got into a courtroom for jury selection at almost 11:30am. There were maybe forty or so people to choose from, and only the one trial that needed a jury, so the lawyers were pretty free with peremptory challenges. By the time I was rejected, and I was #23, there were only four folks who had been deemed suitable for sitting on this case. At least we were free to go at that point, instead of having to sit around and wait to be rejected for another case.

Painting the back room

We were lucky enough to get Key Dear for a weekend again. We've seen a lot of her this year, it's been a real treat! She even managed to get on an earlier flight, which avoided the rush hour traffic we would have hit had she been on the 3pm arrival. It also meant we had an extra few hours with her.

Queenee went to Foxwoods with Bev and MaryLou this past weekend, which gave Key Dear free rein with the back room. Queenee bought a gallon of paint before she left and that was all that was needed. The wall was painted, the woodwork and baseboards were cleaned, the furniture rearranged, pictures hung, plants sprayed and moved into the house, and it all happened in just three days! That girl can work! The room looks great, especially the furniture arrangement. Queenee hasn't even moved anything yet!

We went to the D's and Peas' house for the Red Sox game Friday night. We had a great time. Dam Cat made a delicious calzone, Deacon poured a great bottle of wine, and Dam Cat had a surprise birthday cake for Key Dear, who won't be here for her real birthday in two weeks. A yummy Boston Creme cake, natch, and the Sox won. Too bad they've lost the subsequent two games, but all hope is not lost yet. Maybe they should go rub Tom Brady's head for luck...

Here I Go Again !!

To say I've put in some travel time is an understatement for me this year. If you asked me six months ago what my summer and fall would be like, I'd never have had a clue. This Wednesday I take to the skies again for Boston. If you're confused, don't worry, so am I !! After I agreed to make the trip, and ticket was booked, I finally used my brain and said "what the hell are you doing?" !! I thought the circus only came to town once a year... but noooooooooo, three times is the charm! LOL! I look forward to a wonderful few days, the Wabbit and I have a project this time, and by now she could drive to the airport on autopilot. I'll be flying home with a friend from Key West who has three tiny doggies and cannot fly alone. We take first flight out of BOS Sunday morning and arrive in MIA 8:30am. We'll drive home from there.

I wish I could say that I have Red Sox tickets behind the dugout, but I don't. I have a comfy seat in front of the TV with wild family Sox fans!! It will be great!

BTW, check out the video in the title link, it has some similar experiences of mine in the friendly skies!

Queenee and PopPop's anniversary

Queenee and PopPop did not celebrate their 54th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, but PopPop didn't forget about it entirely. When he took Queenee's morning coffee up to her, he wished her a happy anniversary. Hooray for PopPop!

I, on the other hand, forgot it completely until Key Dear mentioned it today. So, a belated happy anniversary to Q&P!

R.I.P. Flower

First Carlos, now Flower.

Perhaps not all of you have been following the adventures of the Whiskers mob on Discovery Channel's Meerkat Manor, but those who have must be as sad as I am at the loss of Flower. The matriarch of the enormous Whiskers mob, a strong leader and a devoted mother, Flower's loss will be a huge turning point for her family group.

There are critics who say the show anthropomorphizes the meerkats too much. No doubt there is a lot of that happening for the tv show, but at the same time, the documentary aspect stands. Imagine what must go on when the cameras aren't rolling in exactly right location; what must happen off-camera that the editors never get to see and use to enhance the drama of an already very dramatic life? Just look at the Whiskers' pups, Len and Squiggy (who had a deformed leg), both lost to life in the Kalahari, and Axle (rescued by Mitch, adopted by Flower, unbelievably, when he was left behind by the Zappa mob).

Flower has been the biggest star of the show since its inception. She died trying to save her latest litter from a cobra, and received a fatal bite on the face for her efforts. She will be missed by more than the Whiskers could ever imagine. There is a pretty good synoposis of the show and the meerkat families at Wikipedia, for those who might want to catch up.

The world would be a better place if we all lived by the Meerkat Motto:

Respect the Elders, Teach the Young,
Cooperate with the Family.
Play when you can, Work when you should
Rest In Between.
Share your Affection, Voice your Feelings,
Leave your Mark.

GO RED SOX

Can I hear you say with authority.....

MVP = MIKE LOWELL

Just the sound of his name on the air gives me chills.......
Just the sound of his name makes me think Red Sox...........
Just the sound of his name makes me think success...........
Say it Loud.... Say it Clear.... MIKE LOWELL !!!

Meanwhile, some videos to enjoy:

Papelbon loses his shit and goes River Dance on us

As if that isn't enough, Youklis joins in

Not to be outdone, announcer and former Red Sox 2nd baseman Jerry Remy warms up

We love Matt Damon

I totally want to sit with this guy at a Red Sox game - he's wicked cool!