Bambino's Curse

Word to live by

"I'm enjoying every minute, every at-bat, every second that I step on the field. And dancing and jumping and doing everything I can just to stay alive." — Carlos Baerga

I can't add to that wisdom.

Anyway, I think I'm still in shock …

Pedro walks the walk

''Who knows,'' Pedro Martinez said, ''maybe the Bambino was looking out for me tonight.''

Keeping with my Hamlet theme from yesterday (not that anyone noticed), let's just say, "the cat will mew, and dog will have his day."*

It's Friday coming after a fine Red Sox win against against the Yankees, the weather has returned to normal, and we are going into a long weekend. Life is sweet.

Now, if I only I could get a grip on my hatred for one Roger Clemens.

Still, it's hard not to give him his due. Everyone keeps waiting for him to fade, only he just seems to get stronger. At 7-2, with a 3.33 ERA, he's the ace of the Yanks star-studded staff (Guregian, The Boston Herald).

I would suggest he's made a pact with the devil, but I just don't think he's smart enough for that.

I guess Clemens passed along the dumb genes to his kids as well, as reportedly he's had a "nervous week" worrying about his two boys, "15-year-old Koby, and 14-year-old Kory, [who] were going through final exams back home in Houston." Yes, you know those Texas schools and how academically demanding they are! Woo whee. All that reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Texas is consistently in the bottom 5 for all states in all things related to education. Heaven knows how much ol' daddy Rocket would be worrying if his kids went to school in Massachusetts.

But, alas, you don't need brains to do what Clemens does (lucky for him). So here's to hoping the Red Sox just clobber him between the lines tonight at Fenway.

The pitcher doth protest too much, methinks*

''There's no rivalry. I love Bernie Williams. I love Derek Jeter. I love everybody. We just compete. We're not part of that Babe Ruth stuff. We don't have anything to do with it. I wasn't even born then. It's actually boring. I'm very sick of it.'' - Pedro Martinez, one day before facing the Yankees.

And to this I can only reply:

There are more things in heaven and earth, Pedro,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.*

Oliver twists my mojo

Frig.

Is this just a bump in the road with Darren Oliver or was his success earlier in the season a pleasant, but temporary, anomaly?

Mas o menos?

Let's face it: The Red Sox are going to lose some games, and Oliver is the weakest starter. It makes sense then that some of the losses will come on his watch. Grin and bear it then?

On the other hand, there is the weight of history and statistics: Oliver has been in decline and last season was one of the worst pitchers in baseball.

With Hermanson not coming back any time soon, that puts the situation in a bit of a pickle.

Go for a trade to land a pitcher? We've already ruled a Manny trade off limits here in the blogspace. So who are the guys other teams would want in a potential trade? Trot Nixon? Casey Fossum? The thought of giving up either of those guys would, to borrow the Sports Guy's phrase, make me feel the need to puke in my mouth.

And, of course, I'm sure you don't need the reminder, but it's a good time to invoke a Satchel Paige aphorism: "Don't look back,
something might be gaining on you."

Tonight, all eyes turn to Frank Castillo. As Steve McCroskey would say, "I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue."

It's all about the struggle

This is what it's all about. This is the kind of challenge that makes it so much fun, nerve-wracking, beautiful, and painful.

These Sox are just a half-game behind last season's Mariners, who were 30-10 and went on to 116 wins, the most regular-season wins by any team in the last 95 years.

The difference between those M's and these Sox? The Mariners already had a 12-game lead in their division, while the Sox began the night just two games ahead of the Yankees. The Red Sox should be War Emblem, the obvious class of the field. Instead, they're ahead by just a nose.

The Bombers, who arrive here in two days, are hitting home runs at a pace that puts them ahead of the most powerful pinstripers in history. They began the night with 70 home runs - compared with 46 in the same number of games last season - and had gone deep 22 times in their last seven games. (Edes, The Boston Globe).

This season is lining up to be an epic battle. Of course the friggin' Yankees are going to be right there "fogging the rear-view mirror." Would you want it any other way?

At least this year we have more than one to act as David slinging rocks at giant Philistine Goliath:

Lowe allowed just two hits over eight innings in the Red Sox' 9-0 victory over Chicago in the opener of a three-game series at Fenway Park. Lowe's outing was a vivid reminder that he is pitching as well now as when he threw a no-hitter less than a month ago.

Lowe (7-1) dropped his league-best ERA to 1.90, his major league-best opponents' batting average against to .158 and extended his homerless innings stretch to 86 … (Silverman, The Boston Herald).

Hella good.

See you in August, Lou

``You guys make so damn much out of a damn series so early in the year, they don't mean anything; you play the damn games, that's it.'' -- Lou Piniella

Meanwhile, poor Lou had some trouble getting back to the City of Starbucks, land of mochachinos, where, according to Lou, the games don't mean anything:

A bus carrying the Seattle Mariners baseball team to Logan International Airport caught fire in the Ted Williams Tunnel after Sunday's game against the Boston Red Sox (AP).

The serendipity of the accident occurring in Ted Williams Tunnel is one thing, but rumor has it the bus was owned by the Yankee Charter Bus Company of Boston.

Maybe our luck is changing for real?

Bring on the hog butchers, the toolmakers, the stackers of wheat …

Worth the Wait

The 125 minute rain delay? The 41 degree temperature? Didn't matter.

"Listen, the guy can pitch whether it's the Mojave Desert or an igloo in Alaska,'" Seattle manager Lou Piniella said. "What's the difference?'"

As Michael Holley puts it, "What else is there to say?"

This man is amazing. He is constantly pushing and tweaking, always one start away from showing you something that you haven't seen … (Holley, The Boston Globe).

Clear your calendar for Friday: Pedro Martinez vs. Roger Clemens.

Speaking of waiting, will we get to celebrate a 100 year anniversary of Fenway Park in 10 years?

Perhaps, as ballpark specialist Janet Marie Smith (Camden Yards, Turner Field) called in as a consultant on the feasibility to renovate Fenway is optimistic. And she already has some interesting ideas such as

perch[ing] a few rows of seats on top of the left-field wall - ''maybe hang them off the light towers'' - where they'd float above Lansdowne Street

… Smith would especially like to do what she did in Baltimore, which is to extend the ticketed area to include a street next to the park. The street here would be a section of Yawkey Way, which is already closed to traffic during games. That way, once you had your ticket, you wouldn't be confined to the park but could wander the street, too … (Campbell, The Boston Globe)*.

(* Hat tip to Isaac for sending me the link.)